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ill 

so  Rans 


The   Presidency 


LIBRARY  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 

AT  URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 

IN  MEMORY  OF 

STEWART  S.  HOWE 

JOURNALISM  CLASS  OF  1928 

STEWART  S.  HOWE  FOUNDATION 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2012  with  funding  from 

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THE  "ALSO  RANS' 


SPORTS  TO  COME  OFF  AT  THE  CAPITOL-CUMBING  THE  GREASED  POLE. 

COMPETITORS  :. 

ROUGH  AND  READY.—  Winner  of  the  Buena  Vista  stakes,  Backed  bg  Mr,  Yaitkxk  Doodl*. 

GENERAL  SCOTT.— Winner  of  Sastx  As ha' s .dinner  at  Cerro  Gordo. 
THE  THANE  OF  CHQWDER.-Fwt,  unknown. 
THE  MILL  BOY  OF  THJE  SLASHES,  do.       do. 

THE    "ALSO    RANS"    OF   YESTERDAY 

An  exceedingly  humorous  cartoon  showing  Taylor,  Scott,  Clay  and  others  scrambling 
up  to  seize  Polk's  "britches."     From   Yankee  Doodle,  May   29,  1847 


THE  "ALSO  RANS 


99 


GREAT  MEN  WHO  MISSED  MAKING 
THE  PRESIDENTIAL  GOAL 


BY 
DON  C.  SEITZ 

,"  "hoi 

greeley,"  etc. 


WITH  EIGHTEEN  PORTRAITS  AND 
FOURTEEN  CARTOONS 


THOMAS  Y.  CROWELL  COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS        -       -       -        NEW  YORK 


Copyright,  1928 
By  THOMAS  Y.  CROWELL  COMPANY 


PRINTED    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES    OF    AMERICA 


Q  To 

to 


COLONEL  E.  M.  HOUSE 


FOREWORD 

Some  one  has  wisely  said  that  wherever  there  is 
victory  there  must  be  defeat.  In  politics  as  in  battle, 
mischance  often  plays  a  greater  part  than  leadership. 
Great  men  who  aspired  to  fill  the  highest  office  in  the 
world,  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States,  have  more 
than  once  met  Waterloos  either  in  convention  or  at 
the  polls  at  the  hands  of  their  inferiors.  Of  the 
eighteen  outstanding  figures  I  have  selected  as  "Also 
Rans,"  fifteen  failed  to  get  enough  votes.  Three  never 
really  reached  the  people.  These  last  were  the  most 
eminent  of  all. 

Written  at  the  beginning  of  another  Presidential 
campaign  this  volume  is  a  retrospect  of  American 
politics  on  the  losing  side.  I  have  stopped  with  William 
Jennings  Bryan,  and  only  allude  to  Alton  B.  Parker, 
the  single  interlude  in  Mr.  Bryan's  twelve  year  domina- 
tion of  the  Democracy.  The  defeated  candidates  since 
then,  Charles  E.  Hughes,  James  M.  Cox,  and  John  W. 
Davis,  still  flourish  as  able  and  interesting  citizens, 
each  continuing  to  make  his  own  place  in  the  affairs 
of  the  nation.  It  has  not  been  deemed  seemly  to  re- 
exhibit  them  in  their  retirement  from  party  leadership. 

D.  C.  S, 
February,  1928 


vu 


CONTENTS 


Introduction  :  Our  Presidents 


CHAPTER 
I 

Aaron  Burr  (1756-1836)    .... 

II 

William  H.  Crawford  (1 772-1 834)   . 

III 

John  C.  Calhoun  (1 782-1 850)     .     . 

IV 

Henry  Clay  (1 777-1 852)   .     w     -•    • 

V 

Lewis  Cass  (1 782-1866)      .... 

VI 

Daniel  Webster  ( 1 782-1852)        .     . 

VII 

Winfield  Scott  (1 786-1 866)   .     .     .     t 

0     • 

VIII 

John  C.  Fremont  (181 3-1 890) 

IX 

Stephen  A.  Douglas  (1813-1861)      .     r 

0     • 

X 

William  H.  Seward  (1801-1872) 

XI 

George  B.  McClellan  (1 826-1 885)  . 

XII 

Horatio  Seymour  (1810-1886) 

XIII 

Horace  Greeley  (1811-1872) 

XIV 

Samuel  J.  Tilden  (1814-1886)     . 

XV 

Winfield  Scott  Hancock  (1824-1886) 

XVI 

James  G.  Blaine  (1 830-1 893)       .     • 

XVII 

Benjamin  F.  Butler  (181 8-1893)     . 

XVIII 

William  Jennings  Bryan  (1 860-1 925) 
Index  .                

PAGE 

xi 

1 
38 
53 
77 
95 
no 
125 

144 
167 
192 
208 
228 
242 

255 
270 
282 
298 
320 
339 


ix 


OUR  PRESIDENTS 

MEASURED  by  the  requirements  of  a  gov- 
ernment for  the  people,  by  the  people,  in 
the  general  public  interest,  how  many  of  the 
men  who  have  been  elected  President  of  the  United 
States  have  measured  up  to  the  standard? 

In  the  beginning  of  the  republic  it  was  not  intended 
that  the  people  should  elect  their  chief  magistrate. 
They  were  to  select  members  of  an  electoral  college, 
the  groups  of  which  were  to  meet  in  their  several 
States  and  solemnly  pick  out  a  perfect  President.  Quite 
naturally,  George  Washington  was  the  first  to  be 
chosen.  He  could  readily  have  made  himself  Dictator, 
or  Emperor,  had  he  so  desired.  His  chief  anxiety  was 
to  hold  the  discordant  thirteen  together.  They  showed 
alarming  signs  of  falling  apart,  and  the  Constitution 
was  not  fully  ratified  for  many  months.  Indeed  two 
armed  rebellions  broke  out  during  his  regime. 

In  a  new  government  it  was  not  possible  to  produce 
perfection.  It  had  trouble  enough  to  exist.  Scandals 
were  plentiful  and  factional  discord  became  most  ran- 
corous. The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Alexander 
Hamilton,  who  had  no  belief  in  popular  rule,  was  tied 
up  with  Thomas  Jefferson,  who  was  whole-heartedly 
devoted  to  it.  Hamilton  became  involved  in  a  scandal 
with  a  woman  whose  husband  peddled  "influence," 
and  the  Secretary  was  compelled  to  make  a  public  con- 

xi 


xii  Our  Presidents 

fession,  quite  as  frank  as  anything  ever  disclosed  by 
Jean  Jacques  Rousseau,  to  save  his  political  repute. 

Such  was  the  burden  of  his  office  that  Washington 
was  glad  to  lay  it  down  at  the  end  of  his  second  term 
to  devote  himself  to  agriculture  at  Mount  Vernon. 
His  fame  was  not  helped  by  his  Administration,  but 
his  services  were  so  great  and  his  character  so  exalted, 
that  no  one  can  question  his  title  to  immortality, — 
but  not  as  a  President. 

John  Adams,  who  succeeded  him,  was  of  the  coldest 
New  England  type.  A  true  history  of  his  Administra- 
tion was  so  vicious  in  its  revelations  that  it  was  sup- 
pressed. Scandalous  in  detail,  it  probably  was  not 
wholly  deserved.  Yet  little  can  be  found  in  the  record 
of  Adams  as  President  to  prove  that  he  even  nearly 
approximated  the  ideals.  Of  course,  Thomas  Jefferson, 
with  his  notion  of  popular  government,  was  a  mischief- 
maker  and  bedeviled  Adams  as  much  as  he  could.  Yet 
each  died  on  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  revering  the  other. 

Of  Jefferson  it  can  be  said  that  he  was  more  con- 
cerned with  enforcing  his  views  than  managing  the  af- 
fairs of  government.  He  bought  Louisiana  and  the 
Northwest  from  Napoleon  and  so  saved  us  the  neces- 
sity of  stealing  it  in  later  years.  This  was  a  master- 
piece of  foresight,  though  Bonaparte  pressed  the 
bargain  as  a  step  against  the  further  growth  of  the 
British  Empire.  Jefferson's  "embargo"  brought  great 
calamity  upon  our  seaboard  and  his  policy  toward  the 
Army  and  Navy  left  the  country  naked  to  the  winds. 

With  all  his  "democracy"  he  made  James  Madison 
his  successor,  and  Madison  produced  the  War  of  1812 


Our  Presidents xiii 

which  almost  caused  a  secession  of  the  New  England 
States.  James  Monroe,  who  came  after,  remains  fa- 
mous as  the  inventor  of  a  doctrine  that  has  more  than 
once  threatened  our  peace,  and  has  for  over  a  century 
been  a  source  of  offense  to  the  South  American  repub- 
lics. Briefly  interpreted,  under  its  enforcement,  the 
United  States  will  permit  no  one  to  "lick"  our  neigh- 
bors but  ourselves. 

John  Quincy  Adams  followed.  Up  to  and  including 
his  day  the  Presidents  and  the  Government  had  been 
aristocratic.  Now  came  Andrew  Jackson  of  Tennes- 
see, to  demand  that  the  People  enter  the  White  House. 
He  led  Adams  on  the  electoral  vote,  but  a  discrimi- 
nating Congress  to  whose  hands  fell  the  choice,  shut 
the  door  of  the  pallid  palace  in  his  face.  Adams's  ad- 
ministration was  one  of  discord  and  turmoil  that  did 
no  good  to  the  land.  The  United  States  Bank  fastened 
itself  upon  the  country,  and  New  England  Whiggery 
had  its  way,  but  not  without  Congressional  conflicts 
that  embittered  men  and  distressed  the  country. 

At  the  next  election  Jackson  triumphed,  and  also 
in  the  next.  The  Electoral  College  became  a  rubber 
stamp,  and  the  People  entered  the  White  House  wear- 
ing their  muddy  boots  and  spitting  on  the  carpet.  The 
victors  got  the  spoils.  A  woman  upset  Jackson's  Cab- 
inet, and  South  Carolina  came  near  to  seceding.  A 
warship  kept  Charleston  under  its  guns  until  the  State 
cooled  off.  "The  Union  must  be  preserved"  said  "Old 
Hickory"  and  he  meant  it.  But  his  Administration  of 
eight  years  was  a  battle, — not  a  government. 

Like  Jefferson,  Jackson  provided  a  successor  to  him- 
self in  the  person  of  Martin  Van  Buren,  smooth,  sly, 


xiv  Our  Presidents 

and  "foxy."  He,  too,  played  politics,  and  administra- 
tion went  to  the  dogs, — indeed,  it  could  not  be  said  to 
have  been  established.  He  failed  to  succeed  himself. 
The  Whigs  selected  William  Henry  Harrison  on  his 
repute  as  the  "hero"  of  Tippecanoe,  where  with  a  large 
body  of  troops  he  defeated  a  small  body  of  Indians 
under  a  much  abler  man,  Elskawata,  "Prophet"  of 
the  Shawnees.  His  stay  in  office  was  but  one  month. 
Pompous  and  ill-informed,  he  had  no  idea  of  affairs 
and  saved  his  fame  by  dying.  John  Tyler  of  Virginia 
then  became  the  first  Vice-President  to  fill  the  chief 
chair.  Tyler  arranged  the  annexation  of  Texas  as  a  sop 
to  the  cotton  growing  slaveholders  and  laid  the 
foundations  of  the  unjust  Mexican  War.  His  suc- 
cessor, James  K.  Polk,  put  that  conflict  over  with 
no  justification  that  any  historian  could  ever  dis- 
cover, but  it  gave  us  a  fat  slice  of  sage  brush, 
California,  and  a  continued  serial  of  international 
complications,  plus  added  power  to  the  slave  own- 
ers. His  Administration  was  super-political  and  gave 
way  to  one  of  the  heroes  created  by  the  war,  Za- 
chary  Taylor,  "Old  Rough  and  Ready."  He  lived 
only  a  few  months  after  taking  office.  A  dish  of 
cherries  and  milk  brought  on  a  colic  from  which  he  did 
not  recover  and  Vice-President  Millard  Fillmore  of 
Buffalo,  New  York,  filled  his  place.  Fillmore  continues 
to  be  rated  as  a  nonentity.  He  sent  Commodore  Mat- 
thew Calbraith  Perry  to  Japan,  whereby  under  the 
next  Administration,  that  of  Franklin  Pierce,  the  Mi- 
kado's Empire  became  open  to  the  world,  though  as 
Mr.  Dooley  accurately  described  it:  "We  didn't  go 
in;  they  kim  out"  They  did  indeed,  and  to-day  have 


Our  Presidents  xv 

become  one  of  the  New  World's  greatest  anxieties. 
The  Japanese  alone  remain  grateful  for  the  exploit. 

The  election  of  Pierce  in  1852  was  another  echo  of 
the  Mexican  War,  in  which  he  had  served  as  a  volun- 
teer general.  The  Democrats  wanted  a  Northern  man 
who  would  satisfy  the  slaveholders,  and  Pierce  filled 
the  bill.  He  signed  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Com- 
promise and  that  set  Kansas  to  bleeding.  Pierce  was 
a  friend  of  Nathaniel  Hawthorne  and  the  best  thing 
he  did  while  in  office  was  to  make  the  author  Consul  at 
Liverpool  when  the  fees  were  corpulent.  Jefferson 
Davis  was  Pierce's  Secretary  of  War,  and  the  South 
dominated  his  Administration.  The  country  seemed 
safe,  however,  and  the  Democrats  continued  their  rule 
by  electing  James  Buchanan  of  Pennsylvania  in  1856. 

Buchanan  was  a  swallow-tail.  He  had  been  Minis- 
ter to  England  and  had  held  a  Cabinet  place.  His  pic- 
tures show  a  fine  old  gentleman,  much  given  to  observ- 
ing proprieties  and  nothing  else.  History  is  very  hard 
upon  him.  Secession  began  while  he  was  in  office  and 
he  dealt  with  it  feebly.  Yet  to  study  the  times  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  determine  what  he  could  or  should  have  done. 
He  meant  well  to  both  sides,  but  did  not  know  how  to 
handle  either.  The  rise  of  the  Republican  party  from 
the  mixed  elements  of  Free  Soil,  Know  Nothing,  and 
faded  Whig  elements  was  really  a  revolution.  Order 
had  ceased  in  American  politics  and  chaos  had  come. 

Yet  the  defeat  of  Democracy  which  produced  the 
Civil  War  was  not  due  to  the  new  party's  strength, 
Imt  to  Democratic  dissensions.  A  solid  Democracy 
would  have  defeated  the  rail-splitter.  But  out  of  the 
welter  Abraham  Lincoln  was  elected,  and  the  crum- 


xvi  Our  Presidents 

bling  of  the  Union  began.  Lincoln  has  become  one  of 
the  immortals  whose  fame  as  a  wise,  just,  and  merciful 
man  cannot  be  assailed,  yet  he  led  a  party  into  office 
that  was  more  aggressive  for  spoils  and  far  less  repre- 
sentative than  the  "People"  of  Andrew  Jackson. 

It  is  one  of  the  cruel  consequences  of  "party"  gov- 
ernment that  success  at  the  polls  is  more  important 
than  care  for  the  public  interest.  This  bedevils  the  best 
meaning  of  a  President  and  makes  his  position  one  of 
the  utmost  difficulty.  He  must  choose  between  party 
and  people.  It  is  not  possible,  in  its  very  nature,  for 
a  party  to  represent  the  people;  it  represents  its  ma- 
chinery. 

This  then  was  Lincoln's  peril.  He  was  saved  from 
conflict  with  the  people  by  the  war  which  broke  out 
when  he  had  been  but  five  weeks  in  office.  He  had  no 
chance  to  show  qualities  of  amelioration  or  deal  in  di- 
plomacy. That  he  was  a  consummate  politician  goes 
without  saying.  That  he  became  a  martyr  obscures  this 
fact  in  popular  memory.  He  was  surrounded  by  poli- 
ticians and  spoilsmen  of  the  most  rapacious  sort.  His 
Cabinet  was  a  conspiracy  against  him.  Could  he  have 
enforced  in  it  such  submission  as  Woodrow  Wilson  ef- 
fected in  19 1 7-1 8,  the  war  between  the  States  would 
not  have  run  half  the  course  it  did.  He  was  bullied  by 
Stanton,  betrayed  by  Chase,  and  much  perplexed  by 
William  H.  Seward.  Welles  was  a  Democrat,  and  his 
only  friend,  but  a  political  liability,  not  an  asset,  be- 
cause of  his  faith.  Of  Stanton  little  need  be  said.  He 
lives  as  a  great  Secretary  of  War,  tireless  and  faith- 
ful. It  would  be  easy  to  prove  that  he  was  something 
quite  different.  His  effort  to  become  a  despot  after 


Our  Presidents  xvii 

Lincoln's  death  led  to  the  attempt  to  impeach  the  luck- 
less Johnson.  Lincoln  could  not  live  up  to  the  civil  re- 
quirements of  his  office  because  of  the  war,  and  his  use 
of  the  great  powers  invested  in  him  is  mainly  a  record 
of  incompetence  and  disaster.  The  North  won,  not 
the  Government.  Lincoln's  fame  remains,  measured  by 
emotion.  Had  he  survived  his  second  term  it  would 
have  been  established  by  facts. 

Of  Andrew  Johnson  it  is  impossible  to  speak  fairly, 
for  the  poor  man  never  had  a  chance.  He  was  an  ine- 
briated Daniel  in  a  political  lion's  den,  with  Zach 
Chandler,  Thad.  Stevens,  and  Ben  Wade  as  the  chief 
roarers.  Three  more  unprincipled  politicians  never  sat 
in  seats  of  power.  They  beat  down  Johnson's  hands, 
although  he  had  been  Lincoln's  own  choice. 

No  greater  mistake  was  ever  made  than  the  choice 
of  U.  S.  Grant  for  President.  He  was  taken  on  the 
strength  of  his  name  to  keep  the  party  in  power,  yet 
it  led  to  a  great  revolt  that  would  have  succeeded  but 
for  the  selection  of  Horace  Greeley  to  lead  the  oppos- 
ing hosts.  So  we  had  eight  years  of  scandal  and  dis- 
grace at  Washington.  Grant  was  President  in  name; 
Roscoe  Conkling  the  ruler,  with  lovely  Kate  Chase 
Sprague  as  his  overriding  influence.  Politically,  no  rec- 
ord could  have  been  worse.  The  public  interest  was  ig- 
nored by  the  Washington  cabals,  and  Grant,  with  all 
his  noble  qualities,  remains  the  most  incompetent  of 
Presidents,  gauged  by  the  proper  standard. 

Now  comes  a  paradox.  The  man  who  succeeded 
Grant,  Rutherford  B.  Hayes  of  Ohio,  was  not  elected. 
An  electoral  commission  dominated  by  Conkling  gave 
him  the  decision  over  Samuel  J.  Tilden.  Bitterly  as- 


xviii  Our  Presidents 

sailed,  with  "fraud"  stamped  on  his  brow,  Hayes 
gave  us  a  truly  honorable  and  proper  Administration. 
He  sustained  the  Constitution  and  saw  that  the  laws 
were  observed,  which  are  the  President's  chief  duties 
in  time  of  peace.  He  ceased  to  surround  the  ballot 
boxes  in  the  South  with  bayonets.  He  removed  the 
garrisons  and  with  them  "carpet  bag"  governments. 
He  gave  the  South  a  chance  to  live.  He  inaugurated 
civil  service,  and  the  U.  S.  dollar  became  worth  one 
hundred  cents  by  the  resumption  of  specie  payments 
during  his  stay  in  office.  There  were  no  scandals.  Po- 
litical vermin  vanished  from  Washington.  People 
sneered  at  his  simple  life.  William  M.  Evarts,  his  chief 
adviser,  observed  that  "water  flowed  like  champagne" 
at  White  House  dinners.  Mrs.  Hayes  was  a  W.  C.  T. 
U.  Now  that  Volstead  rules  the  land  this  joke  seems 
far-fetched.  Champagne!  What  is  it? 

But  Hayes  was  not  ruled  by  Conkling.  That  turkey 
cock's  sun  set  with  Grant's  going.  When  Garfield  was 
elected  Conkling  sought  to  reassert  his  power.  The 
bullet  of  an  assassin  ended  the  quarrel, — and  Conk- 
ling, as  a  political  factor.  What  Garfield  might  have 
been  is  beyond  speculation.  His  death,  however,  gave 
the  United  States  a  good  President  in  Chester  Alan 
Arthur.  He  had  been  put  on  the  ticket  to  placate  Conk- 
ling and  when  he  came  into  office  Conkling  was  out  by 
his  own  action  in  resigning  from  the  Senate  in  search 
of  a  "vindication,"  which  the  New  York  State  Legis- 
lature refused  to  give  him.  As  a  result,  perhaps,  Ar- 
thur's Administration  was  orderly,  gentlemanly,  and 
just;  he,  after  Hayes,  being  the  only  President  to  keep 
his  place,  while  champagne  again  flowed  in  the  White 


Our  Presidents  xix 

House  and  the  cooking  was  much  improved.  Mr.  Ar- 
thur was  a  connoisseur  in  canvasback  and  terrapin. 

In  considering  Grover  Cleveland,  the  first  Demo- 
crat to  take  office  after  the  war,  much  allowance  must 
be  made  for  the  state  of  mind  that  selected  him.  Conk- 
ling  had  met  with  a  prodigious  defeat  in  New  York 
when  he  attempted  to  make  Charles  J.  Folger  gover- 
nor. Cleveland  was  elected.  Logically  he  became  the 
Presidential  nominee  of  his  party.  He  was  at  once 
called  bigger  than  his  party  and,  as  a  result,  provoked 
some  pretty  rows.  He  went  beyond  the  province  of 
his  office,  said  some  epigrammatic  things,  and  was 
defeated  for  re-election  by  Benjamin  Harrison  of 
Indiana. 

Harrison  came  near  to  being  a  model  President. 
He  was  a  small  man  with  a  waxen  face  who  said  little 
and  worked  hard, — a  grandson  of  the  William  Henry 
who  defeated  Elskawata.  One  of  his  English  ancestors, 
a  butcher  by  trade,  lost  his  head  by  voting  to  amputate 
that  of  Charles  the  First.  He  was  not  the  least  bit 
popular  with  either  people  or  politicians.  He  refused 
to  be  swayed  by  one  or  ruled  by  the  other,  nor  did  he 
try  to  run  the  Government  uphill.  Rated  by  the  re- 
quirements he  stands  nearly  ioo  per  cent,  to  the  good. 
Quite  naturally  he  was  defeated  for  re-election. 

Cleveland  ran  again  in  1892  and  came  back,  thanks 
to  a  populist  tip-over  in  the  West  which  gave  James 
B.  Weaver  twenty-two  electoral  votes.  His  second  term 
was  one  of  trouble.  The  party  did  not  obey  his  request 
to  revise  the  tariff  on  a  revenue  basis,  and  he  let  the 
Wilson  bill  become  a  law  without  his  signature.  His 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  dealt  with  Wall  Street  in 


xx  Our  Presidents 

filling  its  coffers  with  gold  needed  to  keep  its  credit 
sweet  until  forced  by  a  newspaper,  the  "World,"  to 
trust  the  people.  He  did  it  with  a  growl. 

Seeking  an  issue  that  would  disconcert  him,  the  Re- 
publican press  and  leaders  seized  upon  a  boundary  dis- 
pute between  Great  Britain  and  Venezuela  to  rattle 
his  nerves, — and  succeeded.  To  upset  his  enemies  he 
challenged  England  to  mortal  combat  and  laid  the 
train  for  a  world  war.  The  old  lady  was  too  sensible 
to  accept  the  challenge,  but  he  gave  the  nation  a  scare 
that  wrecked  the  Stock  Exchange  for  a  period.  The 
opposition  was  properly  rebuked,  but  it  is  hard  to  see 
how  he  "served"  the  people. 

Cleveland's  strenuous  term  was  followed  by  the 
Administration  of  William  McKinley,  nominated  by 
Mark  Hanna  after  John  Sherman  had  been  betrayed 
by  the  Ohio  delegation.  It  has  always  been  held  to 
McKinley's  shame  that  he  was  under  Hanna's  thumb. 
This  was  not  true.  Hanna  had  a  curious  reverence  for 
him, — curious  and  unusual  in  that  he  was  a  strong 
soul.  McKinley  was  not.  He  was  urbane  and  politic. 
In  short,  a  nice  man.  Yet  Hanna  was  humble  in  his 
presence,  deferred  to  and  was  devoted  to  him.  He 
had  fathered  a  tariff  that  laid  many  "implied  obliga- 
tions" on  his  party  and  was  a  true  Ohio  Republican, 
respectable  enough  to  do  anything  and  get  away  with 
it.  The  war  with  feeble  Spain  to  "free"  Cuba,  was  his 
doing.  Spain  thought  she  was  yielding,  but  did  it  "to- 
morrow" instead  of  to-day. 

Here  again  the  bullet  of  an  assassin  killed  a  Presi- 
dent who  was  improving  and  put  a  circus  in  the  White 
House.  I  once  talked  with  James  J.  Hill  about  Theo- 


Our  Presidents xxi 

dore  Roosevelt,  when  first  in  the  saddle,  observing: 
"Well,  he  wants  to  run  everything." 

"Yes,"  replied  the  Great  Northern  magnate, — 
"like  a  baseball  nine." 

And  so  it  was.  The  Constitution  took  a  vacation.  It 
needed  rest,  perhaps,  having  been  badly  damaged  dur- 
ing Cleveland's  regime  by  Congressman  Tim  Camp- 
bell's inquiry:  "What's  the  Constitution  between 
friends?" 

Roosevelt  gave  it  a  rest.  Also  the  House,  the  Sen- 
ate, and  everything  except  the  American  people.  He 
"took"  Panama,  decimated  the  Twenty-fifth  Infan- 
try, "settled"  the  coal  strike,  took  E.  H.  Harriman's 
money  and  gave  him  no  return,  meddled  with  every- 
thing from  childbirth  to  populism  and  had  a  "bully" 
time.  No  one  else  did.  The  panic  of  1907,  the  friction 
with  Japan,  the  dominance  of  labor  unions  and  capi- 
talism over  the  people  at  large,  all  date  from  him. 
Worse  than  that,  with  the  help  of  William  Jennings 
Bryan,  he  destroyed  political  opposition  and  made  pol- 
itics too  one-sided  to  be  interesting.  Then  he  gave  us 
William  H.  Taft  to  keep  his  seat  warm  while  he  went 
a-hunting. 

Taft  was  long  regarded  as  a  stop-gap  for  Roosevelt. 
Indeed,  he  did  not  seem  to  take  the  office  seriously.  He 
traveled  incessantly  and  when  he  did  anything  it  had  a 
Rooseveltian  flavor.  He  floundered  and  fell  when  it 
came  time  to  stand  on  his  own  feet.  Then  Roosevelt 
wrecked  the  Republican  party. 

It  cannot  be  said,  however,  that  the  country  profited 
by  the  debacle.  Woodrow  Wilson  was  the  outcome. 
Here  again  we  had  the  luckless  result  of  non-opposi- 


xxii  Our  Presidents 

tion  in  government.  Shot  to  pieces  the  Republicans  for 
the  moment  could  provide  none  and  Bryan  had  made 
the  Democrats  impotent.  So  one-man-government  con- 
tinued. Far  abler  and  more  despotic  than  Roosevelt, 
Wilson  belied  the  name  of  Democrat.  His  Cabinet  was 
ignored,  his  Ambassadors  left  in  the  dark.  He  dealt 
with  important  government  matters  through  unofficial 
agents,  whether  from  mistrust  or  impatience,  it  is  hard 
to  decide.  He  made  many  bad  and  more  weak  appoint- 
ments; he  took  on  his  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  as  a 
son-in-law.  The  World  War  came  out  of  a  clear  sky. 
How  did  he  deal  with  it?  In  three  phases: 

1.  Too  proud  to  fight 

2.  Peace  without  victory 

3.  Force  without  limit 

He  won  his  re-election  under  the  first  phase.  The 
people  did  not  wish  to  go  to  war.  He  could  not  have 
gotten  a  vote  for  a  declaration  out  of  Congress. 

When  the  second  phase  developed  he  had  been  re- 
elected. Immense  scorn  from  Republican  sources  wel- 
comed his  pronouncement.  Like  Cleveland  in  the  Ven- 
ezuela affair  he  avenged  himself  by  entering  promptly 
upon  the  third  phase.  He  lived  up  to  it.  Under  his  vast 
war  powers  he  used  "force  without  limit,"  abroad  and 
at  home.  He  put  gyves  on  the  American  people,  trust- 
ing them  not  for  a  moment.  He  enforced  a  "selective" 
draft  that  "selected"  everyone.  He  penned  harmless 
aliens  up  in  stockades,  forced  the  press  into  an  atti- 
tude of  self-censoring  that  destroyed  its  usefulness  and 
its  liberties,  and  made  himself  the  most  powerful  fig- 
ure in  the  world  at  a  gross  outlay  of  $23,000,000,000. 
Then  he  invented  the  League  of  Nations,  by  which 


Our  Presidents  xxiii 

some  fifty-four  are  now  successfully  allied  against  the 
United  States. 

Throughout  all,  luck  stood  by  him  until  his  war 
powers  ceased  and  he  could  no  longer  command  or 
commission.  Then  the  people  rose  and,  by  a  vast  ma- 
jority— 7,004,847 — an  unheard-of  figure  in  American 
elections,  repudiated  Wilson  and  his  policies.  They 
shook  off  their  chains  and  it  will  be  many  a  year  before 
they  hold  out  their  hands  again  for  shackles. 

On  this  mighty  wave  of  reaction  Warren  G.  Hard- 
ing rode  into  office.  He  was  a  plump  printer  from 
Marion,  Ohio.  Statesmen  had  died-out  in  Ohio  and 
small  men  with  ambitious  wives  were  pushed  into 
power.  Harding,  as  one  of  these,  became  United 
States  Senator.  Boies  Penrose,  boss  of  the  Senate,  saw 
in  him  the  kind  of  nonentity  who  would  fit  the  reac- 
tion. Like  Mr.  Artemus  Ward  he  was  "as  genial  a 
feller  as  you  ever  met."  Now  the  boys  in  the  party  had 
been  out  of  the  crib  for  fifteen  years.  Roosevelt  al- 
lowed no  one  to  play  there  but  himself.  Under  Wil- 
son, Republicans  were  at  a  heavy  discount.  With  War- 
ren G.  Harding  they  all  came  back.  He  exerted  himself 
in  no  way  to  interfere  with  the  orgy.  Deeply  disap- 
pointed, the  people  at  large  would  have  rended  him 
but  for  his  removal  by  death.  This  gave  them  Calvin 
Coolidge,  close,  canny  and  careful,  who  cut  down  taxes, 
kept  "good  fellows"  at  a  distance,  stuck  to  his  job,  and 
satisfied  the  country  as  none  of  his  predecessors  were 
able  to  do,  but  did  not  "choose"  to  continue. 

In  the  competition  for  the  great  office,  the  best  man 
has  not  always  won,  nor  have  the  greatest  of  our 
statesmen  reached  the  top.  Rivalries,  accidents  and  de- 


xxiv  Our  Presidents 

sign  have  often  changed  the  result  from  better  to 
worse.  Not  all  of  the  men  who  wished  to  be  President 
should  have  been.  Two,  Henry  Clay  and  Daniel  Web- 
ster surely  deserved  it.  William  H.  Seward  and  Ste- 
phen A.  Douglas  had  real  claims.  Of  the  others — well 
leave  it  to  what  follows. 


THE  "ALSO  RANS" 


AARON  BURR 

THIRD   VICE-PRESIDENT 

THERE  remains  an  ineradicable  savor  of  the 
sinister  about  the  name  of  Aaron  Burr,  third 
Vice-President  of  these  United  States,  under 
Thomas  Jefferson.  How  much  of  his  ill-repute  was  de- 
served it  is  hard  to  say,  for  he  had  an  overload  of 
enemies,  led  by  Jefferson,  whom  he  came  near  to  de- 
feating for  the  high  office  of  President,  and  Alexander 
Hamilton,  whom  he  killed.  The  first  was  of  his  own 
political  party,  the  second,  leader  of  its  Federalist  op- 
position. Yet,  in  intellect  he  was  the  equal  of  either,  in 
social  attainments  and  ancestry,  their  superior.  His 
great-great-grandmother  was  a  sister  of  Sir  George 
Downing  from  whose  house  the  British  Empire  is 
ruled.  For  grandfather,  he  had  the  distinguished  di- 
vine, Jonathan  Edwards,  whose  lovely  daughter  mar- 
ried Aaron  Burr,  President  of  Princeton  University, 
to  whom  the  institution  owes  its  firm  foundation.  He 
was  half  again  as  old  as  she  but  it  was  a  true  love 
match.  Neither  lived  long,  and  little  Aaron  was  left 
alone  to  face  the  world  at  three.  The  orphan  was  not 
poor,  and  his  guardian  and  uncle,  the  Rev.  Timothy 
Edwards,  saw  to  it  that  he  was  brought  up  a  gentle- 


Aaron  Burr 


man.  Timothy  Edwards  was  a  man  of  consequence  at 
Elizabeth,  N.  J.,  where  Aaron  and  his  only  sister, 
Sarah,  were  reared,  Tapping  Reeve,  later  a  distin- 
guished Connecticut  jurist,  being  their  tutor. 

The  two  children  were  near  of  age,  Sarah  having 
been  born  May  3,  1754,  and  Aaron  February  6,  1756, 
both  at  Newark,  N.  J.  The  boy  soon  showed  signs  of 
superiority  and  independence.  He  ran  away  from  Tap- 
ping Reeve's  teachings  when  four  years  old  and  was 
not  caught  for  three  days.  He  pelted  a  richly  dressed 
dame  with  ripe  cherries,  and  for  this  was  "licked  like  a 
sack"  by  his  reverend  uncle.  The  rod  was  not  spared 
in  the  Edwards  family.  He  ran  away  again  at  ten  and 
became  a  cabin  boy  on  a  ship  ready  to  sail  from  New 
York.  The  Reverend  Timothy  traced  him  to  his  task 
and  was  about  to  collar  the  lad  when  he  climbed  to  the 
cross-trees,  where  the  good  man  dared  not  follow. 
From  this  safe  strategic  point  he  dictated  honorable 
terms  and  agreed  to  go  back  to  his  books.  He  there- 
after displayed  such  diligence  that  he  was  prepared  for 
Princeton  at  eleven.  The  college  would  not  accept  one 
so  young  and  so  small.  He  kept  up  with  the  courses  for 
two  years  and  when  thirteen,  sought  to  enroll  as  a 
junior  classman.  This  was  denied  him,  but  he  was  ac- 
cepted as  a  sophomore,  though  two  years  under  the  re- 
quired age.  Dr.  John  Witherspoon,  a  scion  of  John 
Knox,  was  president  and  permitted  the  evasion.  He 
was  a  great  man,  who  became  one  of  the  signers  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

For  a  year  the  boy  wore  himself  to  a  shadow  with 
hard  study.  The  examinations  showed  him  so  far  in 
the  lead  that  he  took  it  easy  for  the  remaining  time. 


Aaron  Burr 


Dapper  in  person  and  neat  in  attire,  he  became  much 
of  a  social  figure.  They  called  him  dissipated,  but  the 
evidence  is  largely  his  own  say  so.  He  records  playing 
one  game  of  billiards  at  a  tavern  for  money  and  he 
would  never  play  again  for  a  stake  of  any  sort.  He  ate 
sparingly  and  seldom  drank.  Graduating  with  honors 
at  sixteen,  he  could  hardly  have  been  very  dissolute — 
especially  in  the  Presbyterian  atmosphere  in  which  he 
dwelt. 

He  wrote  brilliantly  and  was  a  match  for  the  best 
of  the  faculty.  A  revival  made  him  uncertain  as  to  his 
sinful  status.  Consulting  Dr.  Witherspoon,  that  wise 
educator  and  sensible  man  told  him  that  piety  engen- 
dered under  such  stress  was  not  true  religion.  There  is 
no  record  that  he  was  ever  afterwards  disturbed  by 
pious  emotions.  Having  ample  leisure,  by  reason  of  his 
advanced  intellectuality,  he  did  odd  things  in  college, 
notably  the  study  of  ciphers  and  took  to  the  habit  of 
writing  letters  to  his  intimates  in  this  mystic  form. 
Naturally  secretive,  this  custom  was  continued  all  his 
life.  Though  retiring,  he  was  not  without  friends  in 
college,  and  these  endured  so  long  as  they  lived.  Nota- 
ble intimates  were  William  Patterson,  who  was  to 
grace  the  bench  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court; 
Samuel  Spring,  later  eminent  as  a  clergyman,  and 
Matthias  Ogden,  a  distinguished  officer  in  the  Revo- 
lution. 

The  boy  was  Commencement  orator  when  he  grad- 
uated in  1772.  Having  no  special  call  to  take  him 
away,  he  remained  at  Princeton  for  some  months,  re- 
viewed his  studies,  read  much,  was  prominent  in  the 
Clio-Sophie  Society  and  in  social  affairs.  In  the  fall  of 


Aaron  Burr 


1773  he  entered  the  family  of  Dr.  Edward  Bellamy  of 
Bethlehem,  Connecticut,  with  some  vague  notion,  it 
would  seem,  of  studying  theology.  He  left  the  good 
man  in  the  spring  of  1774,  not  for  the  pulpit,  but  the 
open  road,  being  thereafter  a  pronounced  liberal  in 
thought.  He  now  decided  to  take  up  law  and  did  so 
with  his  former  tutor,  now  his  brother-in-law,  Tapping 
Reeve,  at  Litchfield,  Connecticut. 

Signs  of  the  coming  revolt  were  visible.  A  Tory's 
house  was  wrecked  by  a  Litchfield  mob,  whose  leaders 
were  put  under  arrest.  Some  effort  was  made  to  res- 
cue them,  in  which  Burr  itched  to  join,  but  the  crowd 
was  cowardly  and  let  the  minions  of  the  law  hold  their 
fellows,  to  the  deep  disgust  of  the  law  student. 

Lexington  and  Concord  followed  in  the  early  spring 
and  the  lad  now  began  his  extraordinary  public  career. 
It  was  well  said  by  one  who  knew  him  that  Burr  was 
impervious  to  fear.  His  form,  though  slight — he  was 
but  five  feet,  six  inches  in  height — was  so  strongly  con- 
structed that  he  could  lift  twice  his  weight  and  endure 
extremes  of  fatigue.  He  had  studied  the  use  of  arms 
and  military  history.  Thus,  at  nineteen,  he  went  eag- 
erly into  the  fray.  July,  1775,  found  him  among  those 
gathered  to  besiege  Boston,  but  without  assignment. 
Learning  that  General  Montgomery's  campaign  in 
Quebec  was  to  be  reinforced  by  an  expedition  under 
Benedict  Arnold,  to  march  through  the  forests  of 
Maine,  he  went  to  the  rendezvous  at  Newburyport. 
The  troops  were  conveyed  by  sail  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Kennebec  in  late  September,  and  then  began  a  march 
of  fifty  days,  in  chill  autumn  and  early  winter.  Uncle 
Timothy  sent  a  messenger  ordering  Burr  home,  whom 


Aaron  Burr 


he  declined  to  obey.  He  was  nearly  drowned  in  an  up- 
set. But  half  the  force  reached  Quebec.  There  Arnold 
set  himself  down  to  await  Montgomery,  picking  Burr 
as  the  messenger  to  the  general  at  Montreal. 

He  performed  the  journey  with  skill,  ingratiating 
himself  with  the  French  along  the  way.  This  gave  him 
the  rank  of  captain  on  Montgomery's  staff.  The  two 
forces  now  joined  and  Quebec  was  assaulted  vainly  in 
a  heavy  storm  of  snow,  on  the  night  of  December  31, 
1775.  Montgomery  fell,  and  it  was  upon  Burr's  slen- 
der shoulders  that  he  was  borne  to  the  rear.  His  death 
ended  the  effort,  though  the  troops  lingered  until 
spring.  Reinforcements  came  to  the  British  and  they 
retreated  before  them  to  Montreal.  Burr,  who  had  be- 
come a  major,  had  no  use  for  Arnold,  whom  he  re- 
garded as  brave  under  excitement,  but  possessing  no 
moral  courage  or  self-respect. 

He  now  retired  from  the  staff,  refusing  to  obey  Ar- 
nold's request  that  he  remain.  Reaching  Albany,  he 
found  his  fame  had  gone  before,  and  that  there  was 
an  opening  for  him  with  the  commander-in-chief.  He 
joined  Washington's  military  family  at  New  York, 
May,  1776,  and  made  himself  at  home  in  the  fine  man- 
sion used  as  headquarters  on  Richmond  Hill.  Six  weeks 
of  solemnity  in  the  majestic  presence  of  Washington 
was  all  he  could  stand  and  he  secured  a  transfer  to 
the  staff  of  Gen.  Israel  Putnam.  That  bluff  old  warrior 
took  kindly  to  the  unusual  youth  and  they  became  great 
friends.  Burr  lived  with  the  Putnam's  at  the  Battery, 
and  was  a  general  favorite.  Mrs.  Putnam  and  the  brisk 
young  daughters  adored  him.  He  helped  the  general 
in  his  task  of  fortifying  Manhattan  Island.  The  de- 


Aaron  Burr 


feat  on  Long  Island  led  to  a  series  of  conflicts  on  that 
of  Manhattan  and  the  British  won.  Burr  was  not  sur- 
prised. He  thought  Washington  a  poor  general  and 
a  weak  man  and  never  changed  his  opinion.  Curiously, 
Hamilton,  whom  Washington  loved,  and  who  followed 
Burr  on  his  staff,  liked  the  post  as  little. 

During  the  conflicts  that  preceded  the  evacuation 
of  New  York,  Burr  distinguished  himself,  especially 
in  the  fight  at  Forty-second  Street  and  Fifth  Avenue, 
on  September  15,  1776,  when  he  saved  Gen.  Henry 
Knox  and  many  men  from  capture. 

It  was  while  with  the  Putnam  household  that  Burr 
met  Margaret  Moncrieffe,  daughter  of  a  British  ma- 
jor, held  prisoner,  who  became  rather  notorious  and 
left  an  impression  that  Burr  was  the  first  to  mislead 
her.  It  is  probably  untrue.  She  was  but  fourteen  and 
the  precocious  boy  looked  always  to  women  older  than 
himself.  It  suited  the  lady  in  her  later  ill-repute  to  pin 
a  scandal  to  a  name  already  overweighted.  In  truth, 
Burr  thought  the  clever  girl  was  doing  some  danger- 
ous spying  and  gave  Washington  warning,  which  led 
to  keeping  her  under  surveillance. 

For  ten  months  after  the  evacuation  of  New  York, 
Burr  served  with  Putnam,  or  until,  in  July,  Washing- 
ton caused  him  to  be  promoted  to  a  lieutenant-colonelcy 
— the  youngest  in  all  the  army  to  hold  the  rank.  Colo- 
nel Malcom,  who  commanded  the  regiment,  was  a  rich 
New  York  tradesman,  who  had  been  flattered  by  the 
position  and  gave  liberally  to  the  cause.  He  did  not 
care  for  active  service,  and  the  field  work  fell  to  Burr. 
"You,"  Malcom  said  to  his  subordinate,  "shall  have 


Aaron  Burr 


all  the  honor  of  disciplining  and  fighting  the  regiment, 
while  I  will  be  its  father." 

Burr  gave  the  careless  command  a  dose  of  disci- 
pline and  brought  it  into  prime  order.  Most  of  the 
officers  were  of  the  same  type  as  the  colonel.  He  got 
rid  of  them  and  filled  their  places  with  sterner  stuff. 
Yet  he  abused  no  man  and  the  cat  was  never  used  on 
the  backs  of  his  men.  He  fell  upon  a  British  raiding 
party  that  had  ventured  from  New  York  to  Hacken- 
sack  and  drove  it  to  hasty  retreat.  In  the  course  of 
patrolling  North  Jersey,  he  met  at  Paramus,  Theodo- 
sia  Prevost,  widow  of  a  British  major,  to  whom  he 
became  at  once  attached,  though  she  was  not  hand- 
some, and  much  older.  His  mature  mind  found  a  com- 
plement; his  romance  followed  to  fulfillment. 

The  regiment  wintered  at  Valley  Forge,  where  Burr 
showed  such  resource  and  intrepidity  that  Washington 
gave  him  command  at  the  pass  by  which  the  British 
might  assault  the  wretched  army  shivering  in  their 
hovels.  When  the  next  campaign  opened,  Burr's  regi- 
ment fought  at  Monmouth,  where  he  thought  Major- 
Gen.  Charles  Lee  was  right  and  Washington  wrong. 
Burr  was  in  Lord  Sterling's  division.  Washington  next 
sent  him  scouting  and  finally  set  the  regiment  to  watch- 
ing Tories  around  West  Point.  For  a  time  he  com- 
manded the  post.  Remember,  he  was  but  twenty-one. 

Made  a  full  colonel,  Burr  was  given  command  of 
the  important  post  at  White  Plains,  in  January,  1779. 
Here  he  distinguished  himself,  curbing  Tories  and 
holding  an  unbroken  line  down  to  Kingsbridge  where 
the  British  lay.  He  stopped  brigandage  on  the  part 


8  Aaron  Burr 


of  the  American  troops  and  guerillas  and  maintained 
order  in  Westchester.  The  English  built  a  blockhouse, 
in  what  he  regarded  as  his  territory,  and  he  promptly 
destroyed  it,  making  the  garrison  prisoners.  He  had 
a  keen  military  eye,  had  this  amazing  youngster. 

Tyron  was  doing  much  raiding.  Burr  broke  up  the 
practice.  He  knew  the  former  Governor  of  New  York 
and  greatly  enjoyed  besting  him.  So  it  went  on  until 
the  war  came  to  an  end,  finding  Burr  without  fortune 
and  poor  in  health.  He  decided  to  practice  law,  but 
was  barred  by  not  having  completed  his  studies.  Six 
months  were  spent  reading  law  books  in  the  office 
of  Thomas  Smith,  at  Haverstraw,  and  he  then  tried 
for  admission.  The  lawyers  had  ruled  that  a  three  year 
apprenticeship  was  needed.  He  appeared  before  a 
judge  in  Albany,  pleaded  his  service  in  the  army  as  an 
excuse  for  the  lack  of  study,  was  permitted  to  be  ex- 
amined and  triumphantly  passed,  January  19,  1782. 
He  now  began  to  practice,  first  in  Albany,  with  much 
success.  He  was  twenty-six  and  true  to  Theodosia  Pre- 
vost,  married  her,  though  she  was  ten  years  his  senior 
and  had  two  sons.  The  wedding  occurred  November 

*5>  :783- 

Coincidentally,  the  British  evacuated  New  York 
and  Burr  moving  thitherto,  speedily  became  eminent 
at  the  bar,  competing  much  with  another  bright  young 
man,  Alexander  Hamilton.  Both  were  soon  in  politics 
and  on  opposing  sides.  He  prospered  and  for  a  home 
bought  the  Richmond  Hill  mansion  where  he  had 
lodged  with  Washington. 

It  could  probably  be  proved,  without  much  dif- 
ficulty, that  Burr  played  politics  as  a  game,  not  as  a 


Aaron  Burr 


matter  of  principle.  Well  established  in  New  York  as 
a  lawyer,  he  rallied  a  brisk  following  of  young  men  who 
admired  his  wit  and  accepted  his  cynical  views.  "Burr's 
myrmidons"  Hamilton  called  them.  They  surely 
followed  their  leader.  He  served  a  couple  of  terms 
in  the  Legislature  and  was  a  rising  figure.  Once  he 
joined  with  Hamilton  in  supporting  Judge  Joseph  C. 
Yates  for  governor,  against  George  Clinton.  Yates 
had  helped  him  gain  his  easy  admittance  to  the  bar 
and  Burr  never  forgot  an  obligation.  Clinton  won, 
and  being  shrewd,  picked  Burr  as  his  attorney- 
general.  Parton,  Burr's  biographer,  thinks  this  was 
because  he  was  forgiving.  Instead,  he  was  wise  and  saw 
possibilities  in  this  capable  youth. 

Two  weeks  after  the  completion  of  the  Constitu- 
tion, in  July,  1787,  William  Mooney  had  founded,  in 
New  York,  the  Columbian  Order,  better  known  as 
Tammany  Hall.  This  remains  the  oldest  political  or- 
ganization in  the  country.  Burr  speedily  annexed  it  and 
his  young  aristocrats  controlled  its  affairs.  The  Swart- 
wouts,  Van  Nesses  and  their  kind  were  very  promi- 
nent, and  always  friends  of  Burr.  There  were  no  real 
parties,  and  the  weight  of  the  Hall  went  to  where  it 
could  carry  the  best  results  for  its  members.  So  backed, 
Burr  was  in  a  position  to  travel  far.  He  became  a 
United  States  Senator  in  178 1,  defeating  Philip  Schuy- 
ler and  serving  with  industry  and  fidelity.  Indeed,  all 
that  the  man  did  he  did  well. 

Burr's  six  years  in  the  Senate  were  diligent,  but  un- 
eventful. There  is  no  record  of  great  debates  in  which 
he  shared,  or  of  any  legislation  fathered.  According 
to  Rufus  King,  his  none  too  friendly  colleague,  he  was 


io  Aaron  Burr 


more  proficient  in  summing  up  than  originating.  As 
Jefferson's  Republican  Party  made  itself  visible,  he 
supported  its  views.  His  chief  achievement  was  in  caus- 
ing the  Senate  to  hold  open  sessions.  He  also  stood 
with  the  friends  of  France  and  objected  to  taking 
John  Jay  from  the  Chief  Justice's  bench,  to  iron  out 
the  wrinkles  left  in  his  treaty  with  England.  When 
Gouverneur  Morris  was  recalled  from  the  French  mis- 
sion a  Senate  caucus  agreed  on  Burr  as  the  right  man 
to  succeed  him.  James  Madison  was  chairman  of  the 
committee  that  carried  the  suggestion  to  President 
Washington,  who  rejected  it  incontinentally,  saying 
that  it  was  his  rule  never  to  nominate  anyone  for  public 
office  of  "whose  integrity  he  was  not  assured''  and  he 
lacked  this  confidence  in  Colonel  Burr,  thus  echoing 
the  baleful  influence  of  Hamilton. 

This  was  reported  to  the  Senate  and  the  Committee 
was  sent  back  to  reaffirm  its  position.  James  Monroe 
was  a  member.  Washington,  with  visible  wrath,  stood 
his  ground,  but  expressed  a  willingness  to  appoint  either 
Madison  or  Monroe.  The  caucus  would  name  no  other 
and  so  advised  Jefferson  as  Secretary  of  State.  He 
thought  this  was  crowding  the  President,  and  did  not 
tell  him  of  the  resolve.  Monroe  at  last  received  the 
appointment. 

In  the  spring  of  1794,  Burr's  wife,  "the  best  woman 
and  finest  lady  I  have  ever  known"  as  he  once  ex- 
pressed it,  died,  after  long  suffering  with  cancer,  leav- 
ing, besides  her  sons,  Burr's  daughter,  Theodosia,  then 
aged  eleven,  and  all  her  life  the  pride  of  his  heart, 
who  took  her  mother's  place  in  his  deepest  affections. 
Much  of  her  education  he  gave  himself,  true  to  the 


Aaron  Burr  n 


teaching  instinct  so  strong  in  his  ancestry,  with  the 
result  that  she  became  the  best  informed  woman  of 
her  day.  At  fourteen  she  was  mistress  of  his  house,  and 
met,  with  elegance  of  manner,  the  distinguished  guests 
who  came. 

When  the  time  arrived  to  select  a  successor  to  Wash- 
ington, in  1796,  Burr  was  in  the  field  with  such  a  fol- 
lowing that  he  received  thirty  electoral  votes,  running 
third  in  the  opposition  to  John  Adams,  who  led  with 
71,  Jefferson  receiving  63  and  Thomas  Pinckney  39. 
Adams  was  thus  a  minority  selection.  With  all  his 
eminence,  Burr's  fences  in  New  York  fell  into  bad 
order.  Hamilton,  on  the  ground,  had  busied  himself 
to  such  purpose  as  to  put  the  State  in  Federalist  con- 
trol. John  Jay  had  become  governor,  and  Hamilton 
avenged  Burr's  victory  over  Philip  Schuyler  who  was 
his  father-in-law  by  sending  the  latter  to  the  Senate 
by  all  but  one  vote  in  the  Legislature,  leaving  Burr  to 
begin  his  political  life  over  again.  He  lost  no  time,  and 
as  a  first  step  upward,  became  once  more  a  member  of 
the  State  Assembly. 

Out  of  luck,  and  dispirited,  he  sought  a  commission 
as  brigadier-general  in  the  regular  army.  The  Pres- 
ident, John  Adams  urged  his  claim,  but  Washing- 
ton demurred.  "Colonel  Burr  is  a  brave  and  able  of- 
ficer," he  said.  "But  the  question  is,  whether  he  has 
not  equal  talents  at  intrigue."  This  was  after  he  had 
made  Hamilton  Inspector  General,  whom  John  Adams 
described  as  the  "most  restless,  impatient,  artful,  in- 
defatigable and  unprincipled  intriguer  in  the  United 
States."  Victorious  all  around,  Hamilton  took  on  a 
patronizing  attitude  toward  Burr.  "Little  Burr"  he 


12  Aaron  Burr 


called  him  to  General  Wilkinson,  adding:  "We  have 
always  been  opposed  in  politics,  but  on  good  terms. 
We  set  out  in  the  practice  of  law  at  the  same  time,  and 
took  opposite  political  directions.  Burr  beckoned  me 
to  follow  him,  and  I  advised  him  to  come  with  me.  We 
could  not  agree,  but  I  fancy  he  now  begins  to  think 
he  was  wrong  and  I  was  right." 

Thus  thwarted,  Burr  returned  to  New  York.  He 
sold  Richmond  Hill  to  the  first  John  Jacob  Astor  for 
$125,000,  paid  his  debts  and  resumed  the  practice  of 
law.  Among  other  smart  doings  he  contrived  a  charter 
for  the  "Manhattan  Company"  which  evaded  the  rule 
that  no  banks  could  be  chartered,  Hamilton  having 
rigged  an  inhibition  when  he  organized  the  Bank  of 
New  York.  Ostensibly,  it  provided  a  water  supply 
through  private  capital  for  the  region  around  New 
York's  City  Hall.  Some  of  its  old  wooden  conduits 
are  now  and  then  dug  up  at  this  late  day,  while  under 
the  charter  the  great  Bank  of  the  Manhattan  Company 
entered  upon  its  long  and  honorable  career.  Burr,  mean- 
while, had  been  elected  to  the  Assembly.  The  bank 
charter  made  a  great  row  and  he  was  defeated  for 
re-election.  Some  scandal  over  the  doings  of  the  Hol- 
land land  company  brought  on  Burr's  first  duel,  with 
John  B.  Church,  a  brother-in-law  of  Hamilton,  on 
September  2,  1799.  The  affair  came  off  at  Hoboken 
and  was  somewhat  farcical.  No  one  was  hurt,  and  both 
parties  forgave  each  other. 

Burr's  fortunes  being  much  bettered,  he  again  be- 
came active  in  politics.  The  feud  between  John  Adams 
and  Hamilton  helped  the  Republicans.  Burr  got  back 
into  the  Legislature  from  Orange  County,  which  was 


Aaron  Burr  13 


not  stirred  over  the  bank  charter.  He  organized  his 
"Myrmidons"  anew,  drew  George  Clinton  from  re- 
tirement, and  rallied  beside  Gen.  Horatio  Gates,  Sam- 
uel Swartwout,  Henry  Rutgers  and  men  of  like  quality. 
Clinton  was  anti-Jefferson  and  it  took  much  persua- 
sion to  make  him  a  Republican.  Burr  carried  New 
York  City.  Hamilton  saw  in  this  victory  peril  for  Fed- 
eralist electors  at  the  next  Presidential  election,  now 
near,  and  proposed  an  extra  session  to  change  the 
methods  of  choosing  them.  Burr  exposed  this  ruse, 
which  died  a-borning.  The  close  clinch  between  the 
rivals  was  now  on.  Burr's  leadership  brought  him  a 
following  and  the  support  of  many  Republicans  for 
the  Presidency,  with  Jefferson  as  his  chief  rival.  In  the 
election  of  1800,  each  received  73  electoral  votes, 
Adams  65,  Pinckney  64,  Jay  1. 

This  threw  the  election  into  the  House,  which  was 
Federalist  in  majority.  It  was  limited  in  choice,  how- 
ever, to  the  two  highest  names  on  the  ticket,  Jefferson 
and  Burr,  both  Republicans.  The  choice  had  to  be 
made  by  a  majority  of  States.  Jefferson  received  51 
of  the  106  votes,  and  for  twenty-nine  ballots  there 
was  no  change.  The  deadlock  ended  on  March  8th, 
by  the  election  of  Jefferson  as  President,  and  Burr  as 
Vice-President.  Of  the  two  horns  of  the  dilemma, 
Hamilton  had  chosen  the  one  that  was  to  become  fatal 
to  himself,  and  to  his  party,  putting  Jefferson  in  an 
ascendance  long  to  be  held  secure. 

Linked  with  Jefferson  in  high  office,  Burr  was  left 
to  himself  politically.  As  a  Senator  he  had  "soon  in- 
spired" Jefferson  "with  mistrust,"  as  the  latter  wrote. 
They  got  along  courteously,  however.  In  New  York 


14  Aaron  Burr 


politics  continued  turbulent,  Burr's  followers  and  the 
Federalists  clashing  continually,  while  the  Jefferson 
faction  in  his  own  party  opposed  him.  Burr  objected 
to  the  domination  of  Virginia  in  national  politics  and 
tried  to  turn  the  lead  North  with  New  York  at  the 
front.  The  busy  Hamilton  saw  in  the  schism  an  op- 
portunity to  carry  on  his  own  antagonism  and  began 
a  systematic  campaign  of  innuendo  and  reflection 
against  the  Vice-President.  This  came  to  a  head  in 
1804.  Burr  had  been  beaten  in  the  State  election  of 
1803,  after  a  fierce  conflict,  and  was  fully  aware  of 
Hamilton's  proceedings.  During  the  campaign,  a  letter 
written  by  Charles  D.  Cooper  became  public,  contain- 
ing two  expressions : 

(1) — General  Hamilton  and  Judge  Kent  have  de- 
clared, in  substance,  that  they  looked  upon  Mr.  Burr 
to  be  a  dangerous  man,  and  one  who  ought  not  to  be 
trusted  with  the  reins  of  government. 

(2) — I  could  detail  to  you  still  more  despicable 
opinion  which  General  Hamilton  has  expressed  of 
Burr. 

On  June  17,  1804,  Burr  caused  William  P.  Van  Ness, 
a  close  friend,  to  convey  a  copy  of  Cooper's  letter  to 
General  Hamilton,  with  the  passages  marked  and  a 
note  which  concluded  in  these  menacing  terms: 

You  must  perceive,  sir,  the  necessity  of  a  prompt  and  un- 
qualified acknowledgment  or  denial  of  the  use  of  any  such  ex- 
pressions which  would  warrant  the  assertions  of  Mr.  Cooper. 

Hamilton  had  never  seen  the  letter.  He  asked  time 
to  consider  until  the  20th.  His  response  equivocated 
and  begged  the  question.  Burr  countered  coldly. 


Aaron  Burr  15 


Your  letter  of  the  20th,  [he  wrote,]  has  been  this  day  re- 
ceived. Having  considered  it  attentively,  I  regret  to  find  in  it 
nothing  of  that  sincerity  and  delicacy  which  you  profess  to 
value.  Political  opposition  can  never  absolve  gentlemen  from 
the  necessity  of  a  rigid  adherence  to  the  laws  of  honor  and  the 
rules  of  decorum.  I  neither  claim  such  privilege  nor  indulge  it 
in  others.  The  common  sense  of  mankind  affixes  to  the  epithet 
adopted  by  Dr.  Cooper  the  idea  of  dishonor.  It  has  been  pub- 
licly applied  to  me  under  the  sanction  of  your  name.  The  ques- 
tion is  not,  whether  he  has  understood  the  meaning  of  the  word, 
or  has  used  it  according  to  syntax,  and  with  grammatical 
accuracy;  but,  whether  you  have  authorized  this  application, 
either  directly  or  by  uttering  expressions  or  opinions  derogatory 
to  my  honor.  The  time  'when'  is  in  your  own  knowledge,  but 
no  way  material  to  me,  as  the  calumny  has  now  first  been  dis- 
closed, so  as  to  become  the  subject  of  my  notice,  and  as  the 
effect  is  present  and  palpable.  Your  letter  has  furnished  me 
with  new  reasons  for  requiring  a  definite  reply. 

To  Van  Ness,  who  brought  this  merciless  missive, 
Hamilton  showed  much  concern,  but  instead  of  giving 
the  definite  response  required,  lamely  replied  that  it 
was  a  letter  such  as  he  had  hoped  not  to  receive;  that 
Mr.  Burr  might  rather  have  asked  him  to  detail  his 
inferences,  which  would  have  been  found  justifiable. 
Should  Burr  take  this  view  and  withdraw  the  letter  he 
would  regard  it  as  never  having  been  sent,  and  con- 
tinue the  discussion.  If  not,  he  had  nothing  further 
to  say.  Burr's  return  response  was  that  he  felt  con- 
vinced that  Hamilton  bore  toward  him  a  "settled  and 
implacable  malevolence"  and  that  his  "secret  depre- 
dations" upon  his  character  "must  have  an  end."  This 
Van  Ness  called  to  tell  Hamilton  verbally.  He  learned 


16  Aaron  Burr 


that  the  general  had  given  a  note  to  Nathan  Pendle- 
ton, further  expressing  himself,  and  did  not  deliver 
the  message.  This  letter  informed  Burr  that  his  style 
was  "too  peremptory,"  and  his  demands  "unprece- 
dented and  unwarrantable."  The  result  was  a  chal- 
lenge that  was  at  once  accepted. 

.For  twenty-four  days  the  parleyings  went  on,  so 
secretly  that  not  an  intimation  got  abroad.  Both  men 
attended  to  business,  pleading  causes  and  going  about 
as  usual.  They  even  met  at  a  banquet  of  the  Cincinnati. 
One  word  of  the  pending  difficulty  would  have  led  to 
interference  and  prevention  had  it  become  public,  as 
it  did  not.  The  seconds  at  last  agreed  upon  the  morn- 
ing of  July  nth  as  the  date.  Hamilton  wrote  his  will 
and  left  behind  him  a  long  document  in  explanation 
of  the  position  in  which  he  found  himself.  With  all  his 
talent  for  meeting  emergencies,  he  failed  in  this.  A 
cool,  clear  public  statement  would  have  put  Burr  in 
the  wrong;  the  equivocation  left  him  in  the  right  from 
the  meticulous  standpoint  of  the  code  duello. 

The  encounter  thus  set  came  off  as  arranged,  at 
Weehawken,  N.  J.,  opposite  New  York.  Burr  and 
Van  Ness  were  on  the  ground  at  6 :30,  coming  by  boat 
from  Richmond  Hill.  Hamilton  and  Pendleton  came 
a  little  later.  The  ground  was  paced  and  the  principals 
placed.  Hamilton  declined  to  set  the  hair  trigger  of  his 
weapon.  When  the  word  came,  Burr  took  careful  aim 
and  fired.  Hamilton  gave  a  convulsive  leap,  and  as  he 
fell  his  pistol  was  discharged,  cutting  a  twig  over  Burr's 
head.  Burr  handed  his  pistol  to  Van  Ness,  who  kept 
it,  and  went  at  once  to  his  boat,  leaving  Hamilton  to 
the  care  of  Pendleton  and  Dr.  Hosack,  the  surgeon. 


Aaron  Burr  17 


His  wound  was  severe  and  he  was  borne  to  his  town 
house  at  52  Cedar  Street.  By  nine  o'clock  the  news  of 
the  conflict  was  abroad.  Intense  excitement  followed 
and  widespread  grief,  for  Hamilton  was  greatly  be- 
loved; his  rival  was  not.  At  two  o'clock  on  Wednes- 
day, thirty-one  hours  after  the  event,  General  Hamil- 
ton died,  leaving  seven  children  and  a  widow,  who 
was  to  survive  him  fifty  years.  Imposing  services  were 
held,  while  French  and  British  warships  in  the  bay 
fired  minute  guns.  Next  to  the  murder  of  Abraham 
Lincoln,  the  tragedy  remains  the  most  poignant  in 
American  political  history. 

The  death  of  Hamilton  roused  almost  universal  de- 
testation of  Burr.  He  was  astounded  to  find  Repub- 
licans and  Federalists  alike  vigorous  in  denunciation 
of  his  act.  Of  the  Jeffersonians  Burr  wrote  at  the  mo- 
ment: "Our  most  unprincipled  Jacobians  are  loudest 
in  the  lamentations  for  the  death  of  General  Hamil- 
ton, whom,  for  many  years,  they  have  uniformly  de- 
nounced as  the  most  detestable  and  unprincipled  of 
men.  The  motives  are  obvious." 

He  soon  deemed  it  wise  to  depart  from  the  city  to 
some  safe  solitude.  He  went  first  to  the  home  of  Com- 
modore Thomas  Truxton,  at  Perth  Amboy,  N.  J., 
and  was  conveyed  by  carriage  to  Cranberry,  a  hamlet 
in  South  Jersey.  Thence  he  made  a  round-about  jour- 
ney to  Philadelphia,  keeping  incognito  on  the  road. 
Here  he  visited  at  the  home  of  Alexander  J.  Dallas  and 
awaited  events.  Meanwhile,  the  coroner's  jury  in  New 
York  was  investigating  and  deliberating.  On  August 
2d,  it  returned  a  verdict  against  Burr  and  his  seconds. 
Warrants  were  issued  for  their  arrest.  To  avoid  this, 


18  Aaron  Burr 


Burr  and  Samuel  Swartwout  debarked  for  St.  Simon's 
Isle  on  the  Georgia  coast.  Here  he  was  entertained 
for  a  month  and  then  departed  on  a  four  hundred  mile 
trip  to  the  home  of  his  daughter,  Theodosia  Burr  Al- 
ston, in  North  Carolina.  He  rested  a  few  days  and 
then  departed  for  Washington,  which  he  reached  co- 
incident with  his  indictment  in  New  York.  No  attempt 
was  made  to  seize  him.  As  he  wrote  his  daughter: 

There  has  subsisted  for  some  time  a  contention  of  a  very 
singular  nature  between  the  two  States  of  New  York  and  New 
Jersey  as  to  which  shall  have  the  honor  of  hanging  the  vice- 
president.  You  shall  have  due  notice  of  the  time  and  place. 

Neither  New  York  nor  New  Jersey  in  the  end, 
claimed  the  honor.  It  was  deemed  seemly  to  let  the 
matter  drop.  Burr  resumed  his  seat  as  the  presiding 
officer  of  the  Senate*  and  even  shared  in  some  patron- 
age, securing  the  assignment  of  Gen.  James  Wilkinson 
as  governor  of  the  new  Louisiana  Territory,  just 
bought  from  France.  Burr  presided  with  great  dignity 
at  the  trial  under  impeachment  of  Mr.  Justice  Chase 
of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  and  "with  the 
rigor  of  a  devil"  as  a  current  reporter  wrote.  He  also 
guided  the  regular  sessions 'of  the  Senate  until  the  2nd 
of  March.  On  that  day  he  bade  public  life  farewell. 
With  infinite  grace  and  gravity  he  expressed  the  hope 
that  he  had  been  true  to  the  responsibility  of  his  of- 
fice, and  just  and  fair  in  his  rulings.  The  Senate,  itself, 
he  regarded  as  the  chief  preserver  of  law,  order  and 
liberty — the  place  where  resistance  would  be  made  to 
storms  of  political  frenzy  and  the  silent  acts  of  corrup- 
tion ;  where  the  Constitution  would  make  its  last  stand 


Aaron  Burr  19 


against  the  demagogue  and  the  usurper.  In  this  tone 
he  took  his  leave — with  prayers  and  good  wishes  for 
all. 

So  moving  were  his  words,  so  deep  his  feeling,  that 
the  Senators  were  in  tears  as  he  laid  down  the  gavel 
and  stepped  behind  the  curtain.  It  was  half  an  hour 
before  the  body  could  recover  its  decorum  and  select 
a  vice-president  pro  tern. 

For  the  remaining  thirty  years  of  his  life  Burr's 
journey  was  down  hill.  His  public  career,  so  far  as  po- 
litical preferment  went,  was  ended.  "In  New  York" 
he  wrote  Joseph  Alston,  his  son-in-law,  "I  am  to  be 
disfranchised,  and  in  New  Jersey,  hanged.  Having 
substantial  objections  to  both,  I  shall  not  for  the  pres- 
ent hazard  either,  but  shall  seek  a  new  country."  This 
resolve  he  undertook  to  carry  out,  with  results  that 
ended  in  discredit  and  to  a  trial  for  treason. 

Among  the  acquaintances  Burr  made  on  the  march 
to  Quebec,  was  James  Wilkinson,  a  man  of  audacity 
like  himself,  and  though  less  acute  more  capable  of 
covering  his  tracks.  Their  friendship  was  close.  They 
corresponded  regularly  when  apart,  many  of  the  let- 
ters being  in  cipher,  a  method  Burr  had  taken  on  when 
a  student  at  Princeton.  Burr  was  slight,  keen  and 
graceful;  the  general  big  and  bluff.  Perhaps  it  was 
the  great  difference  in  size  and  temperament  that  en- 
deared the  general  to  Burr.  Such  affinities  are  common. 

From  1764  to  1800,  the  Louisiana  territory,  em- 
bracing a  vast  country  west  of  the  Mississippi  as  well 
as  the  present  State  of  that  name,  was  in  Spanish 
hands.  By  his  bargain  with  Bonaparte,  who  wished  to 
build  up  an  anti-British  empire  in  the  New  World, 


20  Aaron  Burr 


President  Thomas  Jefferson  purchased  the  region  for 
$15,000,000  and  the  American  flag  went  up  at  New 
Orleans  on  December  28,  1803. 

Wilkinson  and  W.  C.  C.  Claiborne  were  appointed 
the  United  States  commissioners  to  attend  the  trans- 
fer. As  before  stated  he  owed  this  eminence  to  Burr, 
then  vice-president,  who,  though  not  beloved  by  Jef- 
ferson, wielded  great  influence  in  party  politics.  So 
they  were  near  together  in  interest  when  Burr's  pistol- 
shot  killed  Hamilton  and  destroyed  the  former's 
career.  Claiborne  became  governor,  and  Wilkinson, 
military  commander.  In  1805  Jefferson  gave  him  both 
offices.  That  he  managed  to  adjust  his  relations  with 
both  Jefferson  and  Burr,  so  as  to  keep  the  favor  of 
one  and  enjoy  the  confidence  of  the  other  is  a  tribute 
to  his  skill  as  a  balancer.  Burr,  disfranchised  in  New 
York,  and  ostracized,  was  looking  about  for  a  place. 
He  wanted  to  be  given  a  foreign  embassy,  and  Wilkin- 
son sought  the  aid  of  Matthew  Lyon,  a  belligerent  Jef- 
fersonian  who  had  left  Vermont  for  Kentucky,  to  ask 
the  President  for  such  an  appointment.  Lyon  had  no 
liking  for  Burr,  and  told  Wilkinson  the  thing  was  im- 
possible. Wilkinson  then  urged  Lyon  to  suggest  some- 
thing that  "would  do  for  the  little  counsellor."  Lyon 
suggested  that  Burr  should  gain  a  Nashville  residence, 
and  later,  stand  for  a  seat  in  Congress,  which  he 
thought  could  be  readily  acquired.  "This  will  do!  It 
is  a  heavenly  thought,"  responded  Wilkinson,  "worthy 
of  him  who  thought  it."  The  interview  occurred  in 
Washington  where  Burr  was  still  living.  Lyon  went 
to  Burr's  lodgings  on  an  appointment  made  by  the 
general,  and  was  politely  received.  The  suggestion  did 


Aaron  Burr  21 


not  stir  the  Vice-President,  the  end  of  whose  term 
was  near.  He  did  say  he  was  engaged  in  looking  up  a 
western  land  proposition,  and,  in  the  spring,  was  going 
via  the  river  route  to  look  into  it.  In  other  conversa- 
tions held  later,  Burr  brought  up  the  embassy  sugges- 
tion, intimating  anew  that  Lyon  might  mention  it  to 
Jefferson.  He  replied  flatly  that  he  would  not  dare  do 
such  a  thing. 

Burr  had  some  business  engagements  in  Philadel- 
phia, whither  he  went  from  Washington  early  in 
March,  1805.  On  April  10th,  he  departed  from  Pitts- 
burgh. Floating  down  the  Ohio  he  paused  at  an  island 
forty  miles  above  Cincinnati,  where  Harman  Blenner- 
hassett,  a  romantic  Irishman  with  a  charming  wife,  had 
set  up  a  splendid  establishment.  The  courteous  Burr 
soon  made  himself  at  home,  with  consequences  disas- 
trous to  his  hosts.  After  an  agreeable  stay  he  went  on 
down  the  river  and  up  the  Cumberland  to  Nashville, 
calling  on  Lyon  at  Eddyville,  Kentucky,  where  he  then 
resided.  He  questioned  Lyon  about  the  chance  of  get- 
ting a  seat  in  Congress  and  was  told  that  he  had  de- 
layed too  long.  Burr  then  intimated  that  he  would  seek 
a  seat  in  the  New  Orleans  territory,  if  a  Tennessee 
opening  was  impossible.  This  proved  to  be  the  case. 
Burr  did  not  show  much  concern,  somewhat  to  the 
vexation  of  Lyon.  "There  seemed  to  be  too  much  mys- 
tery in  his  conduct,"  Lyon  wrote  later.  "I  suspected 
him  to  have  other  objects  in  view,  through  which  I 
could  not  penetrate.  These  objects  I  then  believed, 
were  known  to  General  Wilkinson." 

Burr  remained  four  days  in  Nashville  as  the  guest  of 
Andrew  Jackson.  Leaving,  he  went  down  the  river 


22  Aaron  Burr 


to  the  Ohio  and  thence  to  Fort  Massac,  a  former 
French  post,  where  he  met  Wilkinson  enroute  to  New 
Orleans  and  his  government.  Jonathan  Dayton,  who 
was  to  be  joined  in  his  further  activities,  was  also 
there,  and  others  who  were  to  be  interested.  Wilkin- 
son declared  they  discussed  the  building  of  a  canal 
around  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio  at  Louisville  and  noth- 
ing more.  Even  so,  he  gave  Burr  letters  to  leading 
citizens  at  New  Orleans  and  loaned  him  "an  elegant 
barge,  sails,  colors  and  ten  oars,  with  a  sergeant  and 
ten  able,  faithful  hands"  to  convey  him  to  that  city, 
which  he  reached  on  June  23,  1805. 

One  of  the  letters  given  Burr  by  Wilkinson  was 
to  Daniel  Clark,  a  leading  merchant.  It  read: 

This  will  be  delivered  to  you  by  Colonel  Burr,  whose  worth 
you  know  well  how  to  estimate.  If  the  persecutions  of  a  great 
and  honorable  man  can  give  title  to  generous  intentions,  he  has 
claim  to  all  your  attentions  and  all  your  services.  You  cannot 
oblige  me  more  than  by  such  conduct,  and  I  pledge  my  life 
to  you,  it  will  not  be  misapplied.  To  him  I  refer  you  for  many 
things  improper  to  letter,  and  which  he  will  not  say  to  any 
other.  I  shall  be  at  St.  Louis  in  two  weeks,  and  if  you  were 
there,  we  could  open  a  mine,  a  commercial  one,  at  least. 

With  this,  and  other  introductions,  Burr  was  glori- 
ously received.  Claiborne,  retiring  governor,  gave  him 
a  dinner  and  banquets  were  the  order  of  the  day  in 
the  hospitable  city,  then  numbering  around  nine  thou- 
sand souls.  Any  purpose  he  might  have  had  of  settling 
humbly  in  Nashville,  was  quite  dispelled  by  all  the 
glory  here  accorded  him.  He  began  to  feel  the  emo- 
tions of  a  Napoleon. 


Aaron  Burr  23 


Wilkinson's  thoughts  that  he  could  not  "letter," 
are  echoed  in  another  missive  he  wrote  at  the  time 
to  Gen.  John  Adair,  of  Kentucky,  an  old  army  com- 
rade : 

I  was  to  have  introduced  my  friend  Burr  to  you,  but  in  this 
I  failed  by  accident.  He  understands  your  merits  and  reckons 
on  you.  Repair  to  me  and  I  will  tell  you  all.  We  must  have  a 
peep  at  the  unknown  world  beyond  me. 

Reaching  St.  Louis,  Wilkinson  sought  to  interest 
Major  Bruff  in  "a  grand  scheme"  that  would  "make 
the  fortune  of  all  concerned,"  but  did  not  succeed  in 
the  endeavor. 

Clark  and  Burr  got  on  famously,  but  the  former 
denies  in  a  book  he  wrote  later,  "Proofs  of  the  cor- 
ruption of  Gen.  James  Wilkinson,  and  of  his  con- 
nection with  Aaron  Burr,"  that  Burr  broached  any 
project  of  any  sort,  while  he  insists  that  Wilkinson, 
in  approaching  Major  Bruff,  indulged  in  "a  phillipic 
against  Democracy,  and  the  ingratitude  of  republican 
governments." 

Burr  came  North  by  land.  It  was  before  the  days  of 
steamboats  and  the  rivers  were  difficult  of  ascent.  He 
rode  horses  provided  by  Clark  to  Natchez,  crossed  to 
Nashville,  which  he  reached  on  August  6th,  and  be- 
came again  the  guest  of  Andrew  Jackson.  He  next 
made  a  triumphal  trip  across  Kentucky,  meeting,  and 
fascinating,  Henry  Clay  on  the  road. 

Some  inkling  of  his  purpose,  or  those  of  Wilkinson 
and  himself,  must  have  reached  the  Spaniards,  whose 
territory  touched  the  east  side  of  the  river,  and  who 
held  Baton  Rouge.  They  had  a  good  spy  system  in 


24  Aaron  Burr 


New  Orleans.  Clark  was  included  in  the  rumors  and 
wrote  Wilkinson  a  long  disclaimer,  that  may  have  been 
meant  as  a  blind,  complaining  how  the  story  of  a  pos- 
sible expedition  was  interfering  with  a  large  business 
speculation  he  was  about  to  put  over  at  Vera  Cruz. 
Wilkinson  treated  it  as  a  "tale  of  a  tub"  and  gave 
Clark  no  more  consolation.  He  may  have  been  selling 
his  friend  out  at  the  time.  Clark  evidently  came  finally 
to  that  conclusion. 

Burr  and  Wilkinson  met  again  in  St.  Louis  in  Sep- 
tember. In  his  memoirs  he  records  Burr  as  strangely 
altered;  as  one  meditating  on  great  projects  and  full 
of  the  belief  that  the  Southwest  was  disaffected  against 
the  Government.  He  sets  himself  down  as  controvert- 
ing this  view.  He  feared  that  Burr  "had  conceived 
some  dangerous  and  desperate  enterprise,"  and  called 
upon  Governor  William  Henry  Harrison  of  Indiana, 
to  ask  if  he  could  not  secure  a  seat  for  Burr  in  Con- 
gress, to  head  him  off  in  his  designs.  This  was  all  writ- 
ten after  the  wreck  of  Burr's  enterprise  and  can  be 
taken  with  many  grains  of  salt.  He  also  confesses  to 
warning  a  number  of  Jefferson's  Cabinet  to  "keep  an 
eye  on  Burr."  Yet  all  this  while  the  cipher  correspond- 
ence went  on,  Burr  sending  him  six  letters  in  code 
between  September,   1805  and  May,  1806. 

Burr  went  East  in  October.  He  paid  a  visit  to  the 
Blennerhassetts  on  their  island  and  spent  a  week  in 
Washington  during  November.  He  was  well  received 
and  Jefferson  had  him  to  dinner  at  the  White  House. 
There  had  been  fears  of  war  with  Spain.  Wilkinson 
had  been  busily  fortifying  and  getting  things  in  shape 
for  a  possible  conflict  with  the  Spanish.  Burr  happened 


AARON  BURR 
From  a  painting  by  J.   Sharpies,  the  Elder 


Aaron  Burr  25 


to  say  at  the  dinner  that  a  certain  road  on  one  of  his 
maps  sent  the  War  Department  was  only  on  the  map. 
He  called  on  Jefferson  the  next  day  to  explain  it  away 
to  ward  harm  from  Wilkinson.  Incidentally,  he  heard 
that  the  Spanish  danger  was  past.  Of  this  he  informed 
Wilkinscm  in  one  of  the  cipher  letters.  He  took  ad- 
vantage of  meeting  Jefferson  to  suggest  his  need  of 
employment.  To  this  Jefferson,  in  his  notes,  avers  that 
he  told  Burr  that  while  he  appreciated  his  abilities, 
the  loss  of  public  confidence  prevented  acceding  to  his 
request.  This  Burr  received  in  good  spirit  and  they 
dined  together  again — eac*h  perhaps  feeling  the  other 
out  and  dissembling  a  bit !  The  door  to  public  employ- 
ment was,  however,  definitely  closed. 

So  circumstanced,  and  having  been  much  adulated 
in  the  South  and  West,  Burr's  mind  must  have  readily 
reverted  to  Wilkinson's  "unknown  world  beyond  me." 
That  gentleman  had  now  been  confirmed  in  the  Gov- 
ernorship about  which  there  had  been  doubts,  and  so 
had,  perhaps,  softened  somewhat  in  his  views  concern- 
ing the  ingratitude  of  republics. 

Where  did  the  general's  idea  breed  of  an  invasion  of 
Spanish  territory  and  setting  up  a  Southwestern  do- 
minion? Parton  thinks,  and  probably  correctly,  that  it 
grew  out  of  the  schemes  of  Gen.  Don  Francisco  Mi- 
randa to  free  Venezuela,  fostered  in  New  York,  where 
he  met  both  Burr  and  Wilkinson,  having  been  financed 
by  Burr's  friend,  Samuel  G.  Ogden,  and  his  partner, 
William  S.  Smith. 

Did  he  inspire  Burr?  The  answer  made  by  Burr  is 
that  he  did  not;  that  to  the  contrary  he  inspired  Wil- 
kinson, who  in  turn,  it  is  implied  by  what  followed, 


26  Aaron  Burr 


turned  the  idea  of  seizing  a  slice  of  Spanish  posses- 
sions over  to  Burr,  with  a  proposition  to  share  in  the 
enterprise.  This  looks  reasonable.  Miranda  sailed  away 
in  the  Leander  with  the  first  body  of  American  filibus- 
ters, failed  and  ended  his  days  in  a  Spanish  cell  at 
Cadiz*.  He  had  done  valiant  deeds  as  a  general  under 
Dumoriez  in  the  first  days  of  the  French  republic. 

Burr's  reflex  of  Miranda  is  found  in  his  correspond- 
ence. Writing  from  Washington  under  date  of  March 
20,  1806,  to  an  officer  in  West  Tennessee,  he  said: 

The  object  of  the  Administration  appears  to  be  to  treat  for 
the  purchase  of  the  Florida,  and  the  secret  business  which  so 
long  occupied  Congress  is  believed  to  be  an  appropriation  of 
two  millions  of  dollars  for  that  purpose.  .  .  . 

But  notwithstanding  the  pacific  temper  of  our  Gov't  there 
is  great  reason  to  expect  hostility,  arising  out  of  the  expedition 
under  General  Miranda.  This  expedition  was  fitted  out  at 
New  York  and  the  object  is  pretty  well  known  to  be  an  at- 
tempt to  Revolutionize  the  Caracas.  ...  It  would  not  sur- 
prise me  if  on  a  knowledge  of  these  facts  at  Paris  and  Madrid 
our  vessels  in  the  ports  of  these  kingdoms  should  be  seized  and 
measures  taken  for  the  reduction  of  Orleans.  If  these  appre- 
hensions should  be  justified  by  events,  a  military  force  on  our 
part  would  be  requisite  and  that  force  might  come  from  your 
side  of  the  mountains.  .  .  . 

Your  country  is  full  of  fine  materials  for  an  army  and  I 
have  often  said  that  a  Brigade  could  be  raised  in  West  Tenn. 
...  I  take  the  liberty  of  recommending  to  you  to  make  out  a 
list  of  officers  from  Colonel  down  to  Ensign  for  one  or  two 
regiments,  composed  of  fellows  fit  for  business  and  with  whom 
you  would  trust  your  life  and  your  honor.  .  .  . 

Burr  records  that  on  meeting  Wilkinson  in  St.  Louis, 


Aaron  Burr  27 


after  Miranda's  fizzle,  the  general  said  he  "feared 
Miranda  had  taken  the  bread  out  of  his  mouth" — 
whatever  that  may  have  meant. 

Coincident  with  his  interview  with  Jefferson,  Burr 
received  a  note  from  Blennerhassett  wishing  to  know 
what  had  become  of  the  "project"  they  had  discussed. 
Burr  replied  that  he  still  had  it  in  mind.  That  he  was 
pursuing  it  actively  is  shown  in  a  cipher  note  sent  the 
next  day  to  Wilkinson,  which  stated,  among  other 
things,  that  delay  had  been  caused  by  low  water  in 
the  Ohio,  but  this,  while  irksome,  would  "enable  us 
to  move  with  more  certainty  and  dignity."  Also,  "The 
association  is  enlarged  and  comprises  all  Wilkinson 
could  wish.  Confidence  limited  to  a  few."  By  this  it  may 
be  assumed  Burr  recognized  the  general  as  a  full 
partner. 

The  Spanish  situation  suddenly  became  aggressive. 
In  June  their  troops,  to  the  number  of  1,200,  advanc- 
ing by  way  of  Texas,  reached  about  twenty  miles  from 
Nachitoches.  Wilkinson  moved  six  hundred  regulars, 
all  he  had,  toward  the  point  in  danger,  and  manned  the 
New  Orleans  forts  with  militia.  The  country  was  keen 
for  conflict.  This  Wilkinson  might  readily  have  begun, 
as  Zachary  Taylor  did  40  years  later,  and  Texas  have 
been  ours  without  further  delay.  Parton  infers  that 
a  gesture  from  Napoleon  stopped  our  aggression.  This 
did  move  Jefferson.  Daniel  Clark  thought  the  viceroy's 
purse,  previously  tapped,  stalled  Wilkinson. 

Whether  for  a  blind  or  as  a  real  purpose  of  coloniza- 
tion, in  July,  1806,  Burr  purchased  a  large  tract  on 
the  Washita,  drawing  upon  the  savings  of  relatives, 
his  own  credit  and  the  pockets  of  devoted  friends.  He 


28  Aaron  Burr 


enlisted  a  number  of  valorous  young  gentlemen,  includ- 
ing Samuel  Swartwout  of  New  York,  Dr.  Eric  Boll- 
man,  a  German  who  had  tried  to  rescue  Lafayette  from 
prison,  Marinus  Willett,  later  Mayor  of  New  York; 
a  son  of  Matthias  Ogden  and  Comfort  Tyler  of  Can- 
andaigua,  who  raised  a  company  in  Central  New  York, 
in  which  there  were  four  or  five  Creels,  and  at  least  one 
by  the  name  of  George,  all  of  whom  engaged  to  ren- 
dezvous at  Blennerhassett's  Island.  Burr  made  his 
headquarters  at  Philadelphia,  cultivating  two  men  who 
were  aggrieved  at  the  Jefferson  government — Com- 
modore Thomas  Truxton  and  "General"  William 
Eaton,  the  Connecticut  schoolmaster,  who  had  almost 
taken  North  Africa  in  the  war  on  the  Barbary  cor- 
sairs. Both  were  having  trouble  to  adjust  their  claims. 

William  Pitt  died  January  6,  1806,  and  this  shifted 
European  politics.  Perhaps  this  was  the  cause  of  giving 
Wilkinson  cold  feet.  The  conspirators  had  hopes  of 
British  support  against  an  administration  whose  sym- 
pathies were  with  France. 

Burr's  real  purpose  has  never  been  accurately  re- 
vealed. Parton  inferred  that  in  the  event  of  war  he 
planned  to  invade  and  seize  Mexico;  if  none  broke 
out,  to  build  up  his  colony  on  the  Washita.  Whatever 
it  was  he  embarked  for  Blennerhassett's  Island,  with 
his  daughter,  Mrs.  Theodosia  Alston,  and  on  arriving 
there,  busied  himself  with  preparations,  collecting  flat- 
boats,  men  and  provisions.  Thence  he  sent  Samuel 
Swartwout,  with  a  package  of  dispatches,  to  Wilkin- 
son, while  he  traveled  all  over  the  adjacent  region 
hunting  support  and  recruits.  While  in  Kentucky  he 
was  cited  to  appear  in  court  and  answer  to  the  charge 


Aaron  Burr  29 


of  engaging  in  an  unlawful  enterprise.  He  duly  pre- 
sented himself  at  Frankfort  to  answer,  with  Henry 
Clay  as  his  counsel.  Jo  Daviess,  the  U.  S.  District  At- 
torney, had  no  evidence.  So  the  Grand  Jury  was  dis- 
missed. Burr  and  General  John  Adair  were  now  ac- 
cused jointly  and  another  appearance  in  court  resulted. 
The  Grand  Jury  refused  to  indict  either  of  the  gentle- 
men. Clay  had  exacted  from  Burr  an  explicit  disavowal 
of  any  overt  design  against  his  country  before  he  would 
appear  in  the  case.  He  was  now  free  to  go  about  his 
business. 

Fifteen  barges  were  building  at  Marietta.  More  were 
to  come  down  the  Cumberland,  and  all  were  to  unite 
at  the  mouth  of  that  river  to  follow  their  leader  where- 
ever  he  chose  to  go.  This  was  well  arranged  when 
something  happened. 

Samuel  Swartwout  found  Governor  Wilkinson  much 
disturbed  when  he  came  upon  him  at  Nachitoches  on 
October  8,  1806.  He  first  presented  a  simple  letter 
of  introduction,  such  as  one  friend  might  give  another, 
and  being  well  received,  delivered  a  note  in  cipher, 
which  read: 

Yours,  post  marked  13th  of  May,  is  received.  I,  Aaron 
Burr,  have  obtained  funds,  and  have  actually  commenced  the 
enterprise.  Detachments  from  different  points,  and  under  dif- 
ferent pretenses,  will  rendezvous  on  the  Ohio,  1st  November 
■ — everything,  internal  and  external,   favors  views;  protection 

of  England  is  secured.  T is  going  to  Jamaica  to  arrange 

with  the  admiral  on  that  station;  it  will  meet  on  the  Missis- 
sippi.   ,   England,   ,   navy  of   the   United   States  are 

ready  to  join,  and  final  orders  are  given  to  my  friends  and 
followers:  it  will  be  a  host  of  choice  spirits.  Wilkinson  shall 


30  Aaron  Burr 


be  second  to  Burr  only,  Wilkinson  shall  dictate  the  rank  and 
promotion  of  his  officers.  Burr  will  proceed  westward,  1st 
August,  never  more  to  return;  with  him  goes  his  daughter; 
the  husband  will  follow  in  October  with  a  corps  of  worthies. 

Send  forth  an  intelligent  and  confidential  friend  with  whom 
Burr  may  confer;  he  shall  return  immediately  with  further 
interesting  details;  this  is  essential  to  concert  and  harmony  of 
movement.  Send  a  list  of  all  persons  known  to  Wilkinson,  west 
of  the  mountains,  who  may  be  useful,  with  a  note  delineating 
their  characters.  By  your  messenger  send  me  four  or  five  com- 
missions of  your  officers,  which  you  can  borrow  under  any  pre- 
tense you  please;  they  shall  be  returned  faithfully.  Already 
are  orders  to  the  contractors  given  to  forward  six  months'  pro- 
visions to  points  Wilkinson  may  name;  this  shall  not  be  used 
until  the  last  moment,  and  then  under  proper  injunctions. 
The  project  is  brought  to  the  point  so  long  desired.  Burr 
guaranties  the  result  with  his  life  and  honor,  with  the  honor, 
and  fortunes  of  hundreds  of  the  best  blood  of  our  country. 

Burr's  plan  of  operation  is,  to  move  down  rapidly  from  the 
Falls  on  the  15  th  of  September,  with  the  first  500  or  1,000 
men  in  light  boats,  now  constructing  for  that  purpose,  to  be 
at  Natchez  between  the  5th  and  15th  of  December;  there  to 
meet  Wilkinson;  there  to  determine  whether  it  will  be  ex- 
pedient in  the  first  instance  to  seize  on  or  pass  by  Baton  Rouge. 
On  receipt  of  this  send  an  answer.  Draw  on  Burr  for  all  ex- 
penses, etc.  The  people  of  the  country  to  which  we  are  going, 
are  prepared  to  receive  us.  Their  agents,  now  with  Burr,  say, 
that  if  we  will  protect  their  religion,  and  will  not  subject 
them  to  a  foreign  power,  that  in  three  weeks  all  will  be  settled. 
The  gods  invite  to  glory  and  fortune;  it  remains  to  be  seen 
whether  we  deserve  the  boom.  The  bearer  of  this  goes  ex- 
press to  you;  he  will  hand  a  formal  letter  of  introduction  to 
you  from  Burr.  He  is  a  man  of  inviolable  honor  and  perfect 
discretion;  formed  to  execute  rather  than  to  project;  capable 
of  relating  facts  with  fidelity,  and  incapable  of  relating  them 


Aaron  Burr  31 


otherwise.  He  is  thoroughly  informed  of  the  plans  and  in- 
tentions of  Burr,  and  will  disclose  to  you  as  far  as  you  in- 
quire and  no  further.  He  has  imbibed  a  reverence  for  your 
character,  and  may  be  embarrassed  in  your  presence.  Put  him 
at  ease,  and  he  will  satisfy  you. 

For  further  assurance  Swartwout  gave  Wilkinson 
a  letter  from  Jonathan  Dayton,  another  friend  of  the 
general  and  of  Burr,  reading : 

Dear  Sir:  It  is  now  well  ascertained  that  you  are  to  be 
displaced  in  next  session.  Jefferson  will  affect  to  yield  reluc- 
tantly to  the  public  sentiment,  but  yield  he  will.  Prepare  your- 
self, therefore,  for  it.  You  know  the  rest.  You  are  not  a  man 
to  despair,  or  even  despond,  especially  when  such  prospects  offer 
in  another  quarter.  Are  you  ready?  Are  your  numerous  as- 
sociates ready?  Wealth  and  glory,  Louisiana  and  Mexico!  I 
shall  have  time  to  receive  a  letter  from  you  before  I  set  out 
for  Ohio.  Address  one  to  me  here,  and  another  in  Cincinnati. 
Receive  and  treat  my  nephew  affectionately  as  you  would  re- 
ceive your  friend. 

Dayton. 

Does  it  seem  possible  that  a  man  of  Burr's  astute- 
ness, or  one  of  Dayton's  experience,  would  write  such 
letters,  except  to  a  thoroughly  committed  associate? 
Certainly  no  conspirator  was  ever  in  a  more  critical 
position.  Wilkinson  had  either  led  Burr  on,  or  the 
latter  had  assumed  too  much.  In  any  event,  the  crisis 
was  at  hand;  just  how  near  Wilkinson  did  not  know. 
He  lost  no  time  in  deciding  to  betray  his  devoted 
friend.  Spending  much  of  the  night  deciphering  the 
message,  he  called  in  Colonel  Cushing,  his  second  in 
command,  and  revealed  the  contents  of  the  letter,  so 


32  Aaron  Burr 


far  as  he  had  been  able  to  translate  it — which  was 
far  enough — as  Wilkinson  put  it,  to  discover  that 
Burr's  object  was  "treasonable."  Swartwout  was  en- 
tertained in  camp  by  the  dissembling  warrior,  until 
October  1 8th,  when  he  departed  for  New  Orleans  to 
await,  quite  unsuspectingly,  the  arrival  of  the  flotilla. 
Wilkinson,  meanwhile,  with  almost  uncanny  craft, 
caused  Lieutenant  Smith  to  "resign"  as  a  cover  to  his 
being  sent  as  a  messenger  to  President  Jefferson,  with 
a  full  revelation  of  the  plot.  For  this  purpose  he  gave 
the  young  man  $500,  and  hurried  him  off.  Some  sort 
of  a  note  he  also  wrote  Burr,  but  recalled  it. 

The  revelation  reached  Jefferson  on  November  25, 
1806.  He  issued  a  proclamation  on  November  27th, 
warning  against  unlawful  enterprises.  He  did  not 
name  Burr,  nor  had  Wilkinson  done  so  in  his  dis- 
patches. By  whatever  form  of  persuasion,  he  and  the 
Spanish  commander  agreed  not  to  fight,  and  the  lat- 
ter took  his  departure  from  the  border  with  all  his 
men.  Returning  to  New  Orleans,  the  general  began 
preparations  with  much  noise  to  defend  that  city  from 
his  former  associate.  He  proclaimed  martial  law, 
warned  the  British  admiral  at  Jamaica  of  the  coming 
of  the  filibusters  (with  whom  he  was  supposed  to  be 
allied),  and  in  public  addresses,  managed  to  create  im- 
mense excitement,  taking  pains  all  the  while  to  cover 
his  own  tracks  well.  The  whole  city  put  itself  under 
arms,  and  the  streets  were  watched  by  a  night  patrol. 
Stockades  were  thrown  up  and  outposts  established. 
Swartwout,  his  friend,  young  Ogden,  General  John 
Adair  and  Dr.  Bollman,  were  found  in  the  city,  ar- 
rested and  sent  by  schooner  to  Baltimore,  whence  they 


Aaron  Burr  33 


were  taken  to  Washington  and  discharged  for  lack  of 
evidence. 

Meanwhile,  no  army  came  to  seize  New  Orleans 
and  Burr's  friends  in  the  city  bestirred  themselves.  The 
florid  general  was  soon  made  to  appear  ridiculous.  The 
Grand  Jury  denounced  his  measures  as  illegal  and  un- 
constitutional. Jefferson  complimented  him  and  he 
withstood  the  clamor. 

The  Government  now  began  to  look  up  Burr.  One 
Graham,  a  special  secret  agent,  was  sent  to  Marietta 
to  find  out  what  was  going  on.  He  pretended  to  be  a 
recruit,  and  the  joyous  Blennerhassett  told  him  all  he 
knew.  On  his  report  the  Governor  of  Ohio  called  out 
the  militia  and  captured  the  fifteen  bateaux.  Word  of 
this  reaching  the  island,  and  expecting  a  raid,  the  party 
there  assembled  slipped  away  down  the  river,  leaving 
Mrs.  B.  to  follow  with  her  children.  The  militia  called 
and  wrecked  the  beautiful  mansion. 

Burr  was  on  a  visit  to  Nashville,  when  the  Presi- 
dent's proclamation  arrived.  He  left  hurriedly  and 
met  the  men  from  the  island  at  the  mouth  of  the  Cum- 
berland. They  were  but  few.  He  did  not  dream  that 
Wilkinson  had  betrayed  him,  and  went  openly  down  the 
river,  making  calls  on  friends  until,  reaching  Bayou 
Pierre,  thirty  miles  north  of  Natchez,  he  learned  the 
truth  and  faced  a  proclamation  of  the  Governor  of 
Mississippi  calling  for  his  capture.  He  issued  a  counter 
reply,  but  a  force  was  sent  against  him.  He  surren- 
dered his  person,  gave  bail  in  $10,000  to  await  action 
of  the  Grand  Jury,  which  promptly  released  him,  with 
a  presentment  denouncing  military  arrests.  The  court 
refused  to  dismiss  the  case  and  Burr  slipped  across  the 


34  Aaron  Burr 


river,  with  the  purpose  of  reaching  the  Spanish  settle- 
ment at  Pensacola.  The  men  were  held  a  while  and 
then  scattered,  many  remaining  in  the  neighborhood, 
supplying  it,  as  the  attorney  general  observed,  with 
"a  superfluity  of  schoolmasters,  dancing  masters  and 
music  masters." 

Burr,  halting  on  his  way,  was  identified  at  Wake- 
field, Alabama,  and  detained  while  word  was  sent  to 
Capt.  E.  P.  Gaines  of  Fort  Stoddard,  who  waylaid  the 
adventurer  on  the  road  out  of  the  village  the  next 
morning  and  arrested  him  "at  the  instance  of  the  Fed- 
eral Government."  He  was  taken  to  the  fort  a  prisoner 
and  sent  overland  to  Richmond,  where  he  was  indicted 
for  treason  and  put  in  the  penitentiary  for  safe-keeping 
until  time  for  trial. 

John  Marshall,  a  Federalist,  was  the  presiding 
judge.  William  Wirt  prosecuted.  Edmund  Randolph, 
John  Wickham  and  Luther  Martin  led  the  defense.  It 
was  a  great  trial,  but  no  overt  act  could  be  proven 
against  Burr,  and  the  jury  brought  in  a  verdict  of  not 
guilty.  Indicted  for  misdemeanor,  he  was  also  acquitted 
on  the  ground  that  the  offense,  if  any,  was  committed 
in  Ohio.  The  case  against  Burr  failing,  such  of  his  as- 
sociates as  were  accused,  also  went  free. 

Keen  judge  of  character  as  Burr  was  deemed  to  be, 
he  erred  sadly  in  making  Wilkinson  his  confidant. 
How  far  he  had  been  led  to  believe  that  the  general  ac- 
cepted his  plans  and  proposed  to  promote  them  was 
never  made  plain  by  either.  At  the  Richmond  trial, 
Burr  was  contemptuous  of  his  old  comrade,  but  did 
not  flay  him.  Wilkinson  was  a  fussy  witness  and  his 
revelations  were  minimized  by  his  admission  that  he 


Aaron  Burr  35 


had  made  some  alterations  in  the  text  of  the  cipher  let- 
ter, though  these  did  not,  apparently  affect  its  mean- 
ing. At  any  rate,  after  the  acquittal  of  Burr,  Wilkinson 
was  much  discredited.  He  was  kept  under  fire.  Many 
believed  that  he  had  sold  Burr  twice — once  to  the 
Spanish  Viceroy  of  Mexico,  and  once  to  Thomas  Jef- 
ferson. 

It  was  openly  charged  that,  after  the  suppression  of 
Burr's  attempt,  Wilkinson  sent  one  Walter  Burling  to 
the  Spanish  Viceroy  with  a  bill  for  $200,000,  to  com- 
pensate himself  for  services  rendered  Spain  in  heading 
off  the  raid.  In  support,  the  widow  of  the  Viceroy  re- 
peated this  story  to  Col.  Richard  Raynal  Keene,  an  of- 
ficer in  the  Mexican  service.  Father  Patrick  Mangan, 
an  Irish  priest  who  acted  as  interpreter  for  Burling, 
gave  like  testimony.  He  said  the  request  was  "con- 
temptuously refused"  by  the  Viceroy,  who  expelled  the 
emissary  from  Mexico.  Colonel  Keene,  who  became  a 
lawyer  in  New  Orleans,  put  his  statement  on  record  in 
his  own  affidavit,  together  with  a  statement  signed  by 
the  lady.  These,  with  Dr.  Mangan's  declaration,  were 
placed  on  file  in  New  Orleans.  It  was  further  averred 
that  Wilkinson  had  been  in  receipt  of  a  pension  or  some 
sort  of  allowance  from  Spain.  His  position  became  so 
unpleasant  that  he  gave  up  the  command  of  the  Army, 
December  18,  1809,  and  remained  on  waiting  orders 
until  September  2,  18 n,  when  he  was  placed  on  trial 
before  a  court  martial  at  Frederickstown,  Maryland, 
on  a  charge  of  receiving  bribes  from  the  Spanish  gov- 
ernment. The  trial  lasted  until  December  25,  181 1.  He 
was  acquitted  and  restored  to  command  in  the  Louisi- 
ana territory,  with  headquarters  at  New  Orleans.  His 


36  Aaron  Burr 


services  to  Jefferson  evidently  stood  him  in  good  stead 
with  President  James  Madison. 

When  freed  after  the  fiasco  Burr  made  his  way  to 
Europe,  where  he  spent  five  years  in  wandering.  He 
earned  the  distinction  of  being  held  in  Paris  by  Napo- 
leon, getting  away  at  last  through  the  kindly  interces- 
sion of  James  Madison.  His  lovely  daughter,  Theo- 
dosia  Burr  Alston,  was  lost  at  sea  with  a  vessel  that  left 
no  trace  behind.  Some  think  she  was  sunk  by  pirates. 
There  were  plenty  of  them  about  at  the  time  operating 
out  of  the  Cuban  keys. 

Burr  came  back  to  New  York  bowed  with  grief  and 
older  than  his  years.  Active  hostility  had  died  down, 
but  he  had  lost  his  place  in  the  parade.  Setting  up  as  a 
lawyer,  mistrust  kept  his  dockets  small  and  he  eked  out 
only  a  poor  living,  much  hunted  by  creditors  and 
shunned*by  all  but  a  faithful  few.  When  seventy-eight, 
nearly  fifty  years  after  his  first  marriage,  he  wedded 
Madame  Jumel,  a  rich  and  ancient  dame.  The  union 
was,  naturally,  unhappy.  The  town  laughed  at  the  al- 
liance of  the  venerable  lovers,  and  the  lady  put  him  out 
of  her  great  mansion  on  Washington  Heights.  Septem- 
ber 14,  1836,  his  blighted  life  came  to  an  end  at  the 
age  of  eighty  years,  seven  months  and  eight  days.  He 
is  buried  at  Princeton,  under  a  block  of  marble  on 
which  is  carved: 


Aaron  Burr 

Born  February  6th,   1756 

Died  September  14th,  1836. 

A  Colonel  in  the  Army  of  the  Revolution 

Vice-President  of  the  United  States  from  1801  to  1805 


Aaron  Burr  37 


With  all  the  turmoil  of  his  days,  he  died  gently, 
"without  a  struggle  or  a  sigh,"  a  man  without  a  coun- 
try, yet  loving  the  one  that  had  spurned  him  as  few 
men  do ! 


II 

WILLIAM  H.  CRAWFORD 

LAST  OF   A   DYNASTY 

THOUGH  party  government  prevails  in  the 
United  States  the  Constitution  does  not  pro- 
vide for  it.  Under  it  States  choose  electors  in 
such  manner  as  their  legislators  may  decree.  In  the  be- 
ginning the  man  receiving  the  highest  number  of  votes 
became  President,  the  next  highest,  Vice-President. 
After  Jefferson's  contest  with  Burr  he  inserted  Article 
XII,  by  which  each  office  is  made  distinctive  in  selec- 
tion. "The  Electors"  it  states  "shall  meet  in  their  re- 
spective states  and  vote  by  ballot  for  President  and 
Vice-President  one  of  whom  at  least  shall  not  be  a  resi- 
dent of  the  same  state  with  themselves" — just  why  is 
not  now  clear,  unless  to  prevent  domination  by  some 
powerful  unit,  such  as  Virginia  was. 

There  were  no  conventions.  Candidates  were  se- 
lected for  the  Electors  to  vote  upon  by  Congressional 
caucuses.  So  "King  Caucus"  came  into  being  and  grew 
to  be  very  offensive.  This  was  of  course  "representa- 
tive government"  that  never  represented.  Under  the 
system  a  dynasty  was  natural.  Men  took  turns  instead 
of  going  before  the  people.  By  this  method  Thomas 
Jefferson  extinguished  Federalism.  During  his  eight 
years  in  office  he  constructed  his  "Republican"  party, 

38 


William  H.  Crawford  39 

now  the  Democratic.  It  was  more  a  name  than  an  in- 
stitution. When  his  term  expired  he  replaced  himself 
with  James  Madison  for  eight  more  years.  The  Fed- 
eralists of  New  England  had  tried  to  organize  a 
Northern  Secession  at  Hartford  in  December,  1814, 
and  were  too  discredited  to  affect  the  choice  of  Madi- 
son's successor. 

In  1 8 16  the  successorship  to  Madison  lay  between 
William  H.  Crawford  of  Georgia  and  James  Monroe 
of  Virginia.  There  was  already  dissent  over  the  long 
rule  of  Virginia  and  surviving  Federalists  in  New  Eng- 
land were  eager  to  break  the  chain.  They  were  impo- 
tent, however,  as  were  the  Republicans  of  the  North 
who  fell  in  behind  Governor  Daniel  D.  Tompkins  of 
New  York  as  their  choice,  with  Crawford  second.  A 
caucus  of  Republican  members  of  Congress  met  to  pick 
the  man  whom  the  Electors  were  expected  to  ratify. 
Tompkins  was  out  of  it  from  the  start,  so  the  opposi- 
tion to  Virginia  concentrated  on  Crawford.  He  re- 
ceived fifty-four  votes,  Monroe  sixty-five.  Tompkins 
was  named  for  Vice-President,  while  Crawford  was 
kept  content  with  an  assurance  that  he  would  be  per- 
mitted to  succeed  Monroe. 

Monroe  was  swallowed  but  with  some  gagging.  In 
commenting  upon  the  choice,  Aaron  Burr  had  written 
his  son-in-law,  Governor  Joseph  Alston  of  South  Caro- 
lina, that  the  congressional  caucus  nominations  were 
"hostile  to  all  freedom  and  independence  of  suffrage" 
while  "a  certain  junta  of  actual  and  factitious  Virgin- 
ians, having  had  possession  of  the  government  for 
thirty-four  years,  consider  the  United  States  as  their 
property,  and  by  bawling  'support  the  administration' 


40 William  H.  Crawford 

have  so  long  succeeded  in  duping  the  Republican  pub- 
lic." Benton  asserts  that  "a  generous  and  honorable 
feeling  would  not  allow  Crawford  to  become  the  com- 
petitor of  his  friend,"  Monroe.  That  is  to  say  he  did 
not  compete  with  him  in  the  electoral  college,  having 
been  definitely  assured  that  his  turn  would  come  next. 

Though  he  has  faded  from  men's  memory,  William 
H.  Crawford  was  a  distinguished  personage  in  his  day 
and  generation.  He  was  a  Virginian  by  birth,  coming 
into  the  world  in  Nelson  County,  February  24,  1772. 
In  1779  his  father  removed  to  Stevens  Creek,  Edge- 
field district,  South  Carolina.  Here  he  suffered  at  Brit- 
ish hands  during  the  Revolution,  being  kept  some 
months  in  Camden  jail.  In  1783  he  settled  with  his  fam- 
ily on  Kiokee  Creek,  in  Georgia.  The  boy  William  had 
a  scant  education,  but  enough  to  do  a  little  teaching 
himself.  Dr.  Moses  Waddell  opening  Carmel  Acad- 
emy, at  Columbia,  he  entered  and  took  a  classical 
course,  for  two  years,  acting  as  usher  during  the  sec- 
ond year.  In  1796  and  1797  he  was  English  instructor 
at  Richmond  Academy  and  in  1798  became  Rector 
thereof.  All  this  time  he  studied  law  and  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  in  1798,  entirely  self  taught.  He  set  up  an 
office  in  Oglethorpe  County,  practicing  in  what  was 
called  the  Western  circuit,  soon  becoming  its  leading 
lawyer.  For  four  years  he  represented  the  county  in  the 
Georgia  legislature.  He  was  appointed  to  the  United 
States  Senate  in  1807  and  elected  at  the  end  of  his 
term.  He  was  the  "Ajax  of  the  Senate"  according  to 
Thomas  H.  Benton  "and  was  the  conspicuous  mark  in 
the  body  then  pre-eminent  for  its  able  men.  He  had  a 
copious,  ready  and  powerful  elocution  and  had  con- 


Photograph  by  Herbert  Photos.,   Inc. 

WILLIAM    H.    CRAWFORD 


William  H.  Crawford  41 

tinually  on  his  hands  the  splendid  array  of  Federal 
gentlemen  who  then  held  empire  in  the  Senate  cham- 
ber. Senatorial  debate  was  of  a  high  order  then — a 
rivalship  of  courtesy  as  well  as  of  talent;  and  the  feel- 
ing of  respect  for  him  was  not  less  in  the  embattled 
phalanx  of  opposition  than  in  the  admiring  ranks  of 
his  own  party." 

He  had  scoffed  at  Madison's  hesitation  in  going  to 
extremes  with  England  but  won  the  profound  regard  of 
the  President  through  standing  firmly  by  him  in  the 
war-time  of  18 12-13,  and  was  selected  to  be  Minister 
to  France.  It  was  his  preference  to  remain  in  the  Sen- 
ate. He  told  Madison  truly  that  if  he  left  it,  the  admin- 
istration would  lose  that  body,  but  the  President  felt 
his  firm  mind  and  steadiness  of  purpose  were  needed 
in  Paris.  Accordingly  he  accepted  the  mission,  while 
Madison  lost  the  Senate.  As  Thomas  H.  Benton  well 
put  it:  "Great  events  took  place  while  he  was  there. 
The  great  Emperor  fell;  the  Bourbons  came  up  and 
fell.  The  Emperor  re-appeared  and  fell  again.  But  the 
interests  of  the  United  States  were  kept  untangled  in 
European  politics;  and  the  American  Minister  was  the 
only  one  that  could  remain  at  his  post  in  all  these  sud- 
den changes.  At  the  marvelous  return  from  Elba  he 
was  the  sole  foreign  representative  remaining  in  Paris. 
Personating  the  neutrality  of  his  country  with  decorum 
and  firmness,  he  succeeded  in  commanding  the  respect 
of  all,  giving  offence  to  none." 

His  great  size  and  grand  manner  greatly  impressed 
Napoleon.  When  he  was  presented  at  court  the  Em- 
peror "complimented  the  Americans  present  upon  the 
grand  air  of  their  representative."   Returning  from 


42 William  H.  Crawford 

France  in  1815  he  served  Madison  briefly  as  Secretary 
of  War  and  in  18 16,  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 
President  Monroe  re-appointed  him  to  this  office,  a 
post  he  filled  during  the  eight  years  of  the  latter's  in- 
cumbency. The  country  was  without  a  banking  or  cur- 
rancy  system  save  for  a  meager  coinage  and  local  note 
issues.  Crawford  therefore  felt  the  need  of  a  United 
States  Bank,  not  only  to  facilitate  the  workings  of  the 
Treasury  but  to  give  the  country  a  fiscal  system  that 
could  be  relied  upon  to  handle  its  business  safely.  His 
influence  procured  a  charter  for  the  institution  which 
was  to  be  destroyed  by  Andrew  Jackson,  in  an  era 
when  Jeffersonian  "Republicans"  had  given  way  to 
Jacksonian  Democracy. 

Crawford's  position  in  the  powerful  office  of  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury  enabled  him  to  build  up  strong 
support  for  himself  in  Congress.  He  caused  a  tenure 
act,  fixing  official  terms  for  Federal  appointees  at  four 
years,  to  be  passed  in  1820.  For  this  he  was  accused  of 
establishing  a  spoils  system.  He  was  not  always  in  ac- 
cord with  Monroe  who  thought  his  secretaries  should 
act  in  harmony  with  his  views,  or  remain  quiescent. 
Crawford  replied  that  he  exercised  his  personal  rights 
and  not  his  official  ones  in  his  attitude  and  with  this 
Monroe  had  to  be  satisfied.  The  man  was  always  inde- 
pendent. Though  from  the  South  he  had  joined  in  the 
Federalist  objection  to  Jefferson's  embargo  policy.  He 
had  previously  stood  by  President  John  Adams  in  his 
anti-French  attitude.  Though  Monroe  accepted  Craw- 
ford's assurance  there  was  considerable  belief  that  he 
was  trying  to  form  a  new  party — indeed  one  was  badly 
needed.  John  C.  Calhoun,  who  was  Secretary  of  War, 


William  H.  Crawford  43 

»^ — — — — ■ 

was  Crawford's  rival  in  the  leadership  of  the  farther 
South.  Naturally  the  two  did  not  get  on  well.  The  Pres- 
ident really  had  too  much  talent  in  his  official  family. 
He  could  not  control  it,  nor  could  he  devise  policies  all 
would  accept.  Even  the  Monroe  Doctrine  had  a  hard 
time  a-borning. 

Crawford  sat  serenely  in  the  Treasury  awaiting  his 
turn  at  the  Presidency  with  every  assurance  of  success, 
only  to  be  suddenly  surprised  by  the  appearance  in  the 
field  of  a  swarm  of  candidates.  The  most  formidable 
of  these  were  Andrew  Jackson,  of  Tennessee,  John 
Quincy  Adams,  of  Massachusetts,  and  John  C.  Cal- 
houn of  South  Carolina.  Adams  had  forsaken  Feder- 
alism and  become  a  Jeffersonian.  Coincident  with  the 
coming  of  these  rivals  into  the  arena,  Crawford  was 
stricken  with  paralysis.  He  held  on  to  his  office  as  Sec- 
retary of  the  Treasury  but  was  confined  to  a  house  in 
the  country  and  had  to  leave  his  campaign  to  the  ef- 
forts of  others. 

Jackson  came  to  the  encounter  as  an  avowed  enemy. 
When  Secretary  of  War  for  Madison,  Crawford  had 
decided  against  the  general  in  favor  of  a  claim  made  by 
the  Cherokees  for  a  share  in  lands  from  which  the 
Creeks  had  been  dispossessed  by  him.  This  Crawford 
did  after  hearing  both  sides,  leaving  Jackson  to  feel 
that  he  had  been  humiliated  before  his  foes.  Again, 
when  Jackson's  aggressions  against  the  Spanish  in 
Florida  came  under  question  in  Madison's  cabinet  it 
was  urged  by  John  C.  Calhoun,  Secretary  of  War,  that 
Jackson  should  be  put  under  arrest  and  held  for  a 
court  of  inquiry.  The  step  was  not  taken,  but  the  sug- 
gestion leaked  out,  through  a  Nashville  newspaper. 


44  William  H.  Crawford 

credited,  however,  to  Crawford,  who,  if  aware  of  it, 
did  not  deny  it  at  the  time  for  the  excellent  reason  that 
Cabinet  secrets  could  not  be  discussed  by  members.  If 
Calhoun  knew  of  the  mistake  in  Jackson's  mind  he  did 
not  rectify  it.  So  it  festered,  with  consequences.  Craw- 
ford's partisans  concealed  his  true  condition.  He  was 
bolstered  up  and  driven  in  a  carriage  through  the 
streets  of  Washington  to  show  that  he  was  alive  and 
almost  well.  His  physician  put  out  a  bulletin  in  Janu- 
ary, 1824,  affirming  that  he  had  conquered  his  malady 
and  was  sure  to  recover.  His  faithful  friend,  Joseph 
B.  Cobb,  knew  better,  though  aiding  in  the  pretense. 
uAs  an  honest  man"  he  confessed  afterwards,  "I  am 
bound  to  admit  that  Crawford's  health  though  im- 
proving affords  cause  for  objection.  He  is  very  fat,  but 
his  speech  and  vision  are  imperfect  and  the  paralysis 
of  his  hand  continues.  His  speech  improves  slowly.  His 
right  eye  is  so  improved  that  he  sees  well  enough  to 
play  whist  as  well  as  an  old  man  without  spectacles. 
His  hand  also  gets  stronger.  Yet  defect  in  all  these 
members  is  but  too  evident." 

Crawford  hurriedly  sought  to  repair  damages  by 
making  a  combination  with  New  York  through  Martin 
Van  Buren,  that  would  ensure  control  of  the  electoral 
college.  "Crawford"  records  Joseph  B.  Cobb,  "being 
at  the  head  of  a  dominant  and  powerful  party  in  Geor- 
gia, resolved  upon  a  stroke  of  policy,  which  unseemly 
as  it  might  and  did  appear  even  to  his  own  friends,  it 
was  hoped  might  win  to  his  support  the  great  state  of 
New  York.  This  was  none  other  than  the  nomination  of 
Van  Buren  for  the  Vice-Presidency  by  the  state  of 
Georgia.  The  project  was  no  sooner  made  known  than 


William  H.  Crawford 45 

carried  out,  for  Crawford's  wish  was  law  to  his  party 
in  that  state.  The  nomination  was  made  reluctantly  by 
the  Crawford  party,  and  was  received  with  laughter 
and  ridicule  by  his  old  enemies  in  Georgia,  the  Clark- 
ites." 

These  reprehensible  persons  went  so  far  as  to  make 
all  manner  of  fun  of  Van  Buren,  caricaturing  him  as 
half  man,  half  fox,  or  half  mink,  half  snake,  and  some- 
times half  monkey.  In  short  the  choice  was  vilified  and 
ridiculed  beyond  measure.  If  this  tactical  error  were 
not  enough  Crawford  was  basely  attacked  from  the 
rear  by  what  became  known  as  uthe  A.  B.  Plot."  On 
April  19,  1823,  Henry  Clay,  Speaker  of  the  House, 
laid  before  that  body  a  letter  from  Ninian  Edwards, 
late  senator  from  Illinois,  recently  appointed  Minister 
to  Mexico.  En  route  for  his  post  he  had  paused  on  the 
way  to  indite  a  series  of  charges  against  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury.  There  were  six  counts,  serious  enough 
to  secure  impeachment.  All  of  them  Edwards  declared 
could  be  proven.  These  were  backed  up  by  a  cluster  of 
newspaper  clippings  signed  "A.  B."  Edwards  explained 
that  he  was  the  author  of  the  articles,  all  of  which  had 
been  published  in  a  Washington  newspaper  opposed  to 
Crawford's  candidacy  and  supporting  that  of  John  C. 
Calhoun.  It  was  edited  by  a  clerk  in  the  War  Depart- 
ment of  which  Calhoun  was  Secretary,  and  obviously  a 
campaign  canard.  Edwards  asked  for  an  investigation, 
just  as  Congress  was  about  to  adjourn  and  being  him- 
self out  of  reach  was  voted  to  have  played  a  scurvy 
trick  in  the  behest  of  Calhoun.  The  friends  of  Craw- 
ford asked  at  once  for  the  appointment  of  an  investi- 
gating committee.  It  was  named  and  sent  the  sergeant- 


46  William  H.  Crawford 

at-arms  after  the  accusing  Edwards.  He  was  overtaken 
1500  miles  from  Washington  and  brought  back,  but 
not  until  Congress  had  adjourned  and  Crawford  had 
supplied  the  committee  with  what  John  Randolph  of 
Roanoke  called  "a  triumphant  and  irresistible  vindica- 
tion; the  most  temperate,  passionless,  mild,  dignified 
and  irrefragible  exposure  of  falsehood  that  ever  met 
a  base  accusation,  and  without  a  harsh  word  towards 
their  author." 

The  convened  committee  made  up  a  report  fully 
exonerating  Crawford  before  Edwards  appeared.  It 
examined  him,  however,  but  he  could  prove  nothing. 
The  committee  then  issued  a  supplementary  report 
to  the  effect  "that  nothing  had  been  proved  to  impeach 
the  integrity  of  the  Secretary  or  to  bring  into  doubt  the 
general  correctness  and  ability  of  his  administration  of 
the  public  finances."  When  the  testimony  was  given 
out  it  appeared  that  Edwards  had  denied  the  author- 
ship of  the  articles  and  recanted  his  charges.  He  re- 
signed his  appointment  to  Mexico  and  went  back  to 
hide  in  Illinois.  His  son  Ninian  W.  Edwards  became 
a  brother-in-law  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Thomas  Jefferson,  who  admired  Crawford,  wrote 
to  Richard  Rush  concerning  the  UA.  B."  conspiracy  in 
June,  1824:  "A  baseless  and  malicious  attack  on  Mr. 
Crawford  has  produced  from  him  so  clear,  so  incon- 
trovertible and  so  temperate  a  justification  of  himself 
as  to  have  added  much  to  the  strength  of  his  interest. 
The  question  will  ultimately  be,  as  I  suggested  in  a 
former  letter  to  you,  between  Crawford  and  Adams, 
with  this  in  favor  of  Crawford,  that  although  many 
states  have  a  different  first  favorite,  he  is  the  second, 


William  H.  Crawford 47 

with  nearly  all,  and  that  if  it  goes  into  the  Legislature 
he  will  surely  be  elected." 

The  sage  of  Monticello,  it  will  be  perceived,  took 
no  cognizance  of  Andrew  Jackson  nor  conceived  the 
part  to  be  taken  by  Henry  Clay. 

It  is  possible  that  the  urbanity  of  Crawford's  dis- 
claimer was  due  to  Asbury  Dickens,  a  Treasury  clerk, 
who  wrote  it,  for  the  Secretary's  hand  could  not  then 
or  thereafter  hold  a  pen. 

It  had  not  been  his  policy  to  deal  tenderly  with  tra- 
ducers.  He  had  fought  a  duel  with  Peter  Lawrence 
Van  Allen,  solicitor  general  of  the  Western  circuit,  and 
killed  him.  Van  Allen  came  from  New  York  and  wTas 
a  relative  of  Martin  Van  Buren.  In  another  affair  of 
honor  with  John  C.  Clark,  governor  of  Georgia,  a  po- 
litical foe,  the  governor  was  the  better  shot  and 
wounded  the  statesman.  He  also  continued  to  be  his 
opponent  and  the  "Clarkites"  mentioned  by  Cobb  were 
his  following. 

With  a  caucus  impending,  Washington  swarmed 
with  politicians  during  February,  1824,  there  to  bring 
all  possible  pressure  upon  the  congressmen  who  were 
to  control  it.  The  excitement  broke  up  the  business  of 
Congress.  All  of  the  candidates  except  Crawford  were 
opposed  to  a  caucus,  wishing  to  go  openly  before  the 
electoral  delegates.  The  country  at  large  and  the  news- 
papers were  mainly  of  the  same  mind.  The  paralytic 
alone  was  unchanged. 

Twenty-four  members  of  Congress  signed  a  notice 
in  which  they  expressed  themselves  as  deeming  it  in- 
expedient "to  meet  in  caucus  and  name  candidates  for 
President  and  Vice-President."  At  the  same  time  ten 


48  William  H.  Crawford 

members  signed  a  call  for  a  caucus  to  be  held  on  July 
14th.  It  met  in  public  but  only  a  few  spectators  at- 
tended what  was  to  be  the  last  gathering  of  its  kind. 
In  all  sixty-six  congressmen  were  present,  representing 
besides  two  proxies.  In  the  balloting  that  followed 
Crawford  received  sixty-four  votes,  John  Quincy 
Adams  two,  Andrew  Jackson  one  and  Nathaniel  Ma- 
con one.  Albert  Gallatan  was  named  for  Vice-Presi- 
dent by  a  vote  of  fifty-seven.  The  two  were  declared 
the  regular  Republican  nominees.  They  were  not  ac- 
cepted. Various  conventions  were  held  over  the  coun- 
try in  which  Jackson  and  Adams  led  with  John  C.  Cal- 
houn for  Vice-President  on  both  tickets.  Calhoun  had 
ambitions  to  lead  but  withdrew  in  favor  of  Jackson. 
It  was  all  very  spotty  and  irregular,  but  a  scramble 
towards  the  light.  It  killed  King  Caucus. 

The  fight  for  electors  became  country-wide  and  for 
the  first  time  the  nation  had  a  presidential  campaign, 
the  candidates  in  which  however  were  all  of  one  po- 
litical breed,  but  varying  much  in  their  views.  Gallatin, 
who  was  one  of  the  great  financiers  of  history,  was  a 
Swiss  and  was  so  fiercely  assailed  as  a  foreigner  that 
he  was  taken  off  the  ticket  by  Crawford's  managers, 
who  sought  thus  to  aid  him.  The  throwing  over  of 
Jonah  could  not  save  the  ship.  When  the  electors  were 
chosen  in  this  helter-skelter  fashion,  aside  from  being 
pretty  solid  for  Calhoun  the  rest  was  confusion.  Jack- 
son had  some  for  Vice-President,  an  office  with  which 
he  was  not  concerned.  Only  two  states  were  for  Craw- 
ford, Virginia  and  his  own  Georgia.  New  York  gave 
him  five  out  of  twenty-six,  so  little  had  the  Van  Buren 
deal  availed.  Delaware  and  Maryland  sent  him  two 


William  H.  Crawford  49 

and  one  respectively.  All  told,  the  expectant  heir  had 
but  forty-one  electors  to  his  credit.  The  remaining 
vote  split  84  for  Adams,  99  for  Jackson  and  37  for 
Henry  Clay.  Jackson  was  sure  of  success  but  guessed 
wrongly.  There  was  no  choice  and  the  election  was 
thrown  into  the  House  which  was  to  act  on  February 
9,  1825,  making  its  selection  from  the  three  highest, 
which  excluded  Clay. 

They  brought  Crawford  to  the  Capitol  to  exhibit 
him  to  Congress.  Though  but  fifty-one  he  was  tottering 
and  prematurely  old.  "It  had  now  been  a  long  time" 
wrote  Cobb,  in  making  his  mournful  chronicle,  "since 
he  had  mingled  with  the  public  *  *  *  only  a  select 
and  intimate  few  were  in  the  habit  of  visiting  him 
even  at  his  home.  A  few  days  previous  to  the 
time  of  election,  however,  and  to  the  surprise 
of  nearly  all  Washington,  his  friends  conveyed 
him  to  the  Capitol  and  kept  him  there  in  company 
for  several  hours.  The  old  man  looked  better  than 
was  generally  expected  and  deported  himself  with 
accustomed  amenity  and  dignity.  Many  who  saw 
him  only  from  a  distance  were  agreeably  disap- 
pointed. Those  with  whom  he  shook  hands  and  spoke, 
however,  were  observed  to  leave  him  with  grave  faces 
and  with  all  the  signs  and  tokens  of  a  melancholy  in- 
terview. Among  the  last  was  Clay  himself  and  it  was 
afterwards  remarked  by  one  of  Crawford's  friends, 
who  was  present,  that  his  manner  on  that  occasion 
told  plainly  enough  that  their  hopes  of  his  co-opera- 
tion and  support  were  at  an  end." 

They  were,  indeed,  and  the  situation  was  in  the 
hands  of  Clay.  Bear  in  mind  that  at  this  time  all  the 


50  William  H.  Crawford 

parties  concerned  were  "Republicans."  Clay  had  be- 
fore leaving  home  declared  that  he  would  not  vote 
for  Jackson.  The  fatal  9th  of  February  came  to  hand. 
A  tense  crowd  filled  the  galleries,  among  them  many 
friends  of  Crawford,  daring  to  hope  against  hope. 
Daniel  Webster  and  John  Randolph  were  appointed 
Tellers.  The  vote  was  by  ballot.  When  Webster  and 
Randolph  announced  the  result  the  crowd  was  stunned. 
Crawford  received  the  vote  of  Delaware,  North  Car- 
olina, Georgia  and  Virginia;  Jackson  that  of  seven 
states,  although  eleven  had  voted  for  him,  while  John 
Quincy  Adams  had  the  support  of  thirteen,  two  of 
which,  Maryland  and  Illinois,  had  gone  for  Jackson  in 
the  election.  Three  Clay  states,  Kentucky,  Ohio  and 
Missouri,  went  to  Adams.  Henry  Clay  had  made  a 
President  and  there  began  the  cleavage  that  was  to 
separate  the  body  politic  into  Democrats  and  Whigs. 
Three  followers  of  Crawford,  Messers  Cobb,  Ma- 
con and  Lowrey,  girded  themselves  to  break  the  tid- 
ings to  their  chief.  They  found  him  calmly  sitting  in 
his  easy  chair,  while  one  of  the  family  read  to  him 
from  a  newspaper.  According  to  Cobb :  "Macon  sa- 
luted him  and  made  known  the  result  with  delicacy 
though  with  ill-concealed  feeling.  The  invalid  states- 
man gave  a  look  of  profound  surprise  and  remained 
silent  and  pensive  for  many  minutes,  evidently  school- 
ing his  mind  to  a  becoming  tolerance  of  the  event 
which  had  forever  thwarted  his  political  elevation. 
He  then  entered  fully  into  conversation  and  com- 
mented on  circumstances  of  the  election  as  though  he 
had  never  been  known  as  a  candidate.  He  even  jested 
and  rallied  his  friend  Cobb,  whose  excess  of  feeling 


William  H.  Crawford 5X 

had  forbidden  him  to  see  Crawford  until  the  shock 
had  passed  (Macon  and  Lowrey  first  going  in) — for 
he  knew  the  enfeebled  veteran  would  be  shocked. 
*  *  *  Crawford  himself  refrained  from  giving  utter- 
ance to  the  least  exceptionable  sentiment,  and  behaved, 
during  the  remainder  of  his  stay  in  Washington,  with 
a  mildness  and  an  urbanity  befitting  one  in  his  exalted 
station,  who  had  just  staked  and  lost  his  political  for- 
tune." 

Adams  generously  offered  to  retain  Crawford  in  the 
Treasuryship  but  he  declined  and  resigned  on  March 
3,  1825.  He  was  in  the  prime  of  life  but  the  paralysis 
prevented  his  again  assuming  large  activities.  He 
therefore  returned  to  Georgia.  There  in  1827,  Gover- 
nor Troup  appointed  him  Judge  of  the  Northern  Cir- 
cuit, to  fill  a  vacancy  caused  by  the  death  of  Judge 
Dooly.  In  1828  the  Legislature  unanimously  elected 
him  to  the  same  office. 

His  home  was  at  Woodlawn,  a  pleasant  estate  three 
miles  from  Lexington  on  the  high  road  to  Athens. 
Here  he  lived  the  agreeable  life  of  one  held  in  great 
esteem.  He  kept  his  hand  on  state  affairs  and  re- 
strained Georgia  from  joining  South  Carolina  in  its 
nullification  movement.  He  was  all  for  the  Union. 

Taken  ill  while  on  the  circuit  in  Elbert  County,  he 
died  September  15,  1834,  in  his  sixty-third  year,  hav- 
ing spent  thirty  years  in  public  life. 

He  was  among  the  few  men  of  fame  [wrote  Thomas  H. 
Benton  in  recording  his  demise]  that  I  have  seen,  that  ag- 
grandized on  the  approach — that  having  the  reputation  of  a 
great  man  became  greater  as  he  was  more  closely  examined. 
There  was  everything  about  him  to  impress  the  beholder  fa- 


52  William  H.  Crawford 

vorably  and  grandly — he  stood  a  head  and  shoulders  above 
the  common  race  of  men,  justly  proportioned,  open  counte- 
nance, manly  features,  ready  and  impressive  conversation,  frank, 
cordial  manners.  *  *  *  He  seemed  to  compare  favorably  with 
the  foremost  and  that  was  the  judgment  of  others.  For  a  long 
time  he  was  deferred  to  generally  by  public  opinion,  as  the 
first  of  the  new  men  who  were  to  become  President.  Mr. 
Monroe,  the  last  of  the  Revolutionary  stock,  was  passing  off; 
Mr.  Crawford  was  his  assured  successor.  Had  the  election 
come  one  term  sooner  he  would  have  been  the  selected  man: 
but  his  very  eminence  became  fatal  to  him.  He  was  formidable 
to  all  the  candidates  and  all  combined  against  him. 

Jabez  Hammond  in  his  Political  History  of  New 
York  says  of  Mr.  Crawford:  uHe  was  possessed  of  a 
vigorous  intellect,  strictly  honest  and  honorable  in  his 
political  conduct,  sternly  independent,  and  of  great 
decision  of  character." 

Though  Crawford  never  reached  the  White  House, 
his  silver  service  did.  On  leaving  Washington  and  hav- 
ing small  use  for  it  in  Georgia,  Asbury  Dickens,  act- 
ing for  him  sold  it  to  the  Government  and  it  was  sent 
to  adorn  the  State  dinners  given  by  John  Quincy 
Adams. 


Ill 

JOHN  C.  CALHOUN 

FATHER  OF   NULLIFICATION 

IN  the  caucus  that  named  Crawford  to  such  small 
purpose,  John  Caldwell  Calhoun  of  South  Caro- 
lina, had  also  been  a  candidate  for  the  first  place. 
Pennsylvania  sponsored  him  but  withdrew  his  name 
when  it  was  plain  that  Crawford  had  the  votes.  How 
he  was  elected  Vice-President  in  1824  had  been  nar- 
rated. He  slipped  softly  into  the  chair  amid  all  the 
turmoil  and  during  the  four  years  of  Adams'  admin- 
istration, while  the  President  and  Henry  Clay  were 
disuniting  the  Jeffersonians,  sat  as  presiding  officer  of 
the  Senate.  Calhoun  kept  out  of  the  new  alignment  and 
when  Adams  was  again  in  the  field,  stood  with  An- 
drew Jackson  and  was  named  for  Vice-President  a 
second  time,  with  the  Hero  of  New  Orleans,  Adams 
taking  Richard  Rush,  of  Pennsylvania  as  a  running 
mate.  In  the  election  Jackson  and  Calhoun  won,  with 
178  electoral  votes  to  83  for  Adams.  Crawford,  who 
was  still  of  some  consequence  pulled  seven  of  the  nine 
electors  from  Georgia  away  from  Calhoun  and  they 
were  cast  for  William  Smith  of  that  state.  Calhoun, 
who  had  been  largely  a  law  unto  himself  under  Adams, 
was  not  destined  to  be  so  comfortable  with  Jackson. 
Calhoun's  character  has  been  described  as  one  of 

55 


54  John  C.  Calhoun 

the  utmost  probity  and  his  dangerous  thoughts  as  the 
Japanese  call  revolutionary  opinion,  are  apologized 
for  as  the  products  of  an  unusually  honest  mind.  Some 
established  facts  fail  to  bear  this  out.  The  "A.  B." 
conspiracy  against  Crawford  could  hardly  have  gone 
on  without  his  sanction,  and  he  further  misused  that 
honorable  gentleman  as  the  sequel  will  show.  But  of 
his  exceptional  abilities  there  can  be  no  doubt. 

"That  young  man,"  said  President  Theodore 
Dwight  of  Yale,  to  a  friend,  pointing  out  Calhoun, 
"has  talents  enough  to  become  President  of  the 
United  States."  Graduating  from  Yale  in  1804,  where 
his  intellect  had  won  him  this  encomium,  he  went  to 
Litchfield,  Conn.,  and  there  studied  law  at  the  school 
maintained  by  Tapping  Reeve,  brother-in-law  of  Aaron 
Burr,  whence  came  many  able  barristers.  He  had  been 
born  in  Abbeville  District,  South  Carolina,  March  18, 
1782,  son  of  Patrick  Calhoun,  an  immigrant  from 
County  Donegal,  Ireland.  Returning  home  he  began 
the  practice  of  law  at  Abbeville.  He  was  elected  to 
the  South  Carolina  legislature  for  a  term  covering 
1807-9,  and  in  181 1  was  sent  to  Congress.  Here  he 
joined  Henry  Clay  in  the  demand  for  war  with  Great 
Britain.  Though  but  thirty  he  soon  made  his  mark,  de- 
bating brilliantly  with  no  less  antagonist  than  John 
Randolph,  of  Roanoke,  who  was  opposed  to  the  war. 
To  Calhoun  the  rights  of  America  were  "essentially 
attacked,"  and  war  uthe  only  means  of  redress." 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  the  young  man  was  at  the  mo- 
ment an  ardent  Nationalist.  June  24,  18 12,  he  de- 
parted far  from  the  principle  doctrines  of  Jefferson  by 
opposing  strenuously   the  proposition   that  America 


John  C.  Calhoun 55 

should  sit  safely  inside  its  own  fence.  The  "restrictive 
system,"  he  said  truly  enough,  "does  not  suit  the  genius 
of  our  people,  or  that  of  our  government,  or  the  geog- 
raphy or  character  of  our  country" — thus  completely 
reversing  Jefferson,  who  believed  the  nation  self- 
sufficient  within  itself.  "We  have  had  a  peace  like 
war,"  he  exclaimed,  "In  the  name  of  Heaven  let  us 
not  have  the  only  thing  that  is  worse — a  war  like 
peace." 

Personally  Calhoun,  though  the  father  of  fire-eat- 
ing, had  no  great  appetite  for  flame,  though  in  a  dis- 
pute with  Thomas  P.  Grosvenor,  of  New  York,  while 
both  were  in  Congress,  such  heat  was  developed  as  to 
promise  a  duel.  It  was  prevented  by  the  earnest  inter- 
cession of  friends.  In  early  South  Carolina  political 
contention  he  found  himself  in  opposition  to  William 
L.  Yancey.  Calhoun's  cutting  tongue  had  the  best  of 
the  argument,  so  much  so  that  Uncle  Jacob  Marvin, 
a  Yancey  partisan,  determined  to  waylay  the  con- 
queror and  beat  him  up.  He  took  his  post  in  Calhoun's 
path  as  he  was  walking  up  and  down  a  hotel  piazza 
and  prepared  for  the  clinch.  Calhoun  who  had  been 
warned  of  his  coming,  smiled  blandly,  uttered  a  kindly 
salutation  and  continued  his  exercise,  quite  expecting 
an  assault.  Instead  Marvin  stood  fascinated,  then 
broke  into  tears  and  begged  pardon  for  his  ill  intent. 
Thereafter  he  was  devoted  to  the  erstwhile  enemy. 

Calhoun  played  an  important  part  in  Congress. 
Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  National  Currency,  he 
introduced  the  measure  that  led  to  the  establishment 
of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States.  He  also  declared  for 
a  protective  tariff  in  support  of  American  industries. 


56  John  C.  Calhoun 

"It  is  the  duty  of  this  country,"  he  averred  in  January, 
1816,  "to  encourage  its  domestic  industry,  more  espe- 
cially that  part  of  it  which  provides  the  necessary 
materials  for*  clothing  and  defence.  England  is  in  pos- 
session of  the  sea.  *  *  *  That  control  deprives  us  of 
the  means  of  maintaining  our  army  and  navy  cheaply 
clad.  A  certain  encouragement  should  be  extended  at 
least  to  our  woolen  and  cotton  manufacturers."  The 
result  was  our  protective  tariff,  the  consequences  of 
which  were  to  sit  ill  upon  no  less  person  than  Calhoun 
himself.  The  wise  Randolph  saw  that  the  South  could 
not  develop  manufactures  under  slavery  as  the  event 
proved.  He  declared  that  the  new  duties  would  fall 
on  "poor  men  and  slave  holders" — as  they  did. 

Calhoun's  nationalism  showed  itself  still  further  in 
December,  18 16,  when  he  introduced  a  bill  providing 
national  aid  for  roads. 

When  James  Monroe  succeeded  Madison  as  Pres- 
ident, Henry  Clay  was  offered  the  place  of  Secretary 
of  War  in  the  new  cabinet.  He  declined  in  a  pique  at 
not  being  made  Secretary  of  State.  Monroe  then 
named  Calhoun  for  the  post.  He  promptly  accepted. 
John  Quincy  Adams  who  was  Secretary  of  State  left 
a  judgment  of  him  as  UA  man  of  fair  and  candid  mind, 
of  honorable  principles,  of  clear  and  quick  understand- 
ing, cool  self-possession,  of  enlarged  philosophical 
views,  and  of  ardent  patriotism."  This  was  his  opinion 
in  1 82 1.  He  had  to  recant  a  part  of  it  in  due  season. 

The  expansion  of  the  frontier  gave  the  little  army 
plenty  to  do.  Calhoun  reached  out  into  the  remote 
northwest,  projecting  a  line  of  military  posts  far  up 
the  Missouri  to  the  Yellowstone,  though  getting  no 


Photograph    by    Underwood  and    Underwood 

JOHN    C.    CALHOUN 


John  C.  Calhoun  57 

farther  in  the  end  than  Omaha,  thanks  to  official 
blundering  that  did  no  credit  to  the  Secretary  of  War. 

The  Florida  troubles  broke  out  during  his  stay  in 
office  and  it  became  his  duty  to  give  orders  to  no  less 
person  than  Andrew  Jackson,  which  he  did  in  these 
terms:  "You  may  be  prepared  to  concentrate  your 
forces,  and  to  adopt  the  necessary  measures  to  termi- 
nate the  conflict  which  it  has  been  the  desire  of  the 
President,  from  considerations  of  humanity  to  avoid, 
but  which  is  now  made  necessary  by  their  settled  hos- 
tilities." 

Jackson  construed  this  as  a  broad  warrant,  which  in- 
deed it  was,  and  went  ahead  according  to  his  own 
notions,  which  were  soon  to  bring  him  into  conflict 
with  the  administration  and  develop  a  series  of  conse- 
quences that  will  unroll  in  the  course  of  the  narrative. 

As  noted,  Calhoun  was  a  Nationalist  during  this  pe- 
riod. Indeed  John  Quincy  Adams  said  of  him  in  1819: 
"He  is  above  all  sectional  and  factious  prejudices  more 
than  any  other  statesman  of  this  union  with  whom  I 
have  ever  acted." 

In  another  twelve  month  Calhoun  saw  the  North 
and  the  new  West  forging  fast  ahead  of  the  slave- 
bound  South.  The  two  sections  were  strong  enough  to 
force  the  Missouri  Compromise  of  1820.  The  effect 
of  this  was  not  correctly  visualized  by  Calhoun.  He 
saw  in  it  only  the  exercise  of  sectional  strength  to  limit 
the  expansion  of  Southern  prosperity  as  due  to  slavery. 
It  was  the  reverse.  By  making  the  South  solidly  slave 
it  killed  industrial  development  and  checked  only  the 
extension  of  plantations  to  regions  where  slave  labor 
could  not  have  been  made  profitable.  It  was  anything 


58  John  C.  Calhoun 

but  that  on  the  whole,  in  the  South,  itself,  but  this  none 
could  discern,  or  if  they  did,  were  not  free  to  point 
out. 

Calhoun  now  took  alarm  and  in  confidential  talks 
with  John  Quincy  Adams  voiced  his  belief  that  the 
South  would  have  to  separate  and  form  a  defensive 
alliance  with  Great  Britain.  His  nationalism  began  to 
disappear. 

After  William  H.  Crawford's  defeat  in  1824, 
despite  Jackson's  animus  his  followers  in  general  had 
fallen  in  behind  Jackson,  while  Calhoun  also  became 
a  strong  Jacksonian  to  all  outward  appearances,  up- 
holding "the  power  of  the  people  as  against  that  of 
political  leaders."  When  he  presented  himself  to  be 
sworn  in  as  Vice-President,  Jackson  happened  to  be 
the  senior  Senator  present  in  the  chamber  and  admin- 
istered the  oath.  Once  in  the  chair  Calhoun  held  him- 
self quite  apart  from  Adams  and  often  named  com- 
mittees of  the  Senate  of  men  opposed  to  his  policies 
and  aims.  One  of  the  results  of  this  was  the  election  by 
the  Senate  of  a  chairman  pro-tem  in  the  1825—6  ses- 
sion, to  whom  the  appointing  power  was  transferred. 

When  Jackson  approached  his  candidacy  for  1828, 
Crawford,  having  small  use  for  Calhoun,  wrote  from 
his  Georgia  retreat  suggesting  that  he  be  dropped  in 
favor  of  DeWitt  Clinton,  of  New  York,  as  Vice-Pres- 
ident. This  Jackson  declined  to  consider,  asserting  that 
Calhoun  had  been  his  friend  to  all  appearances  for  the 
ten  years  past  and  he  was  disposed  to  rely  upon  him  as 
such.  Calhoun  was  therefore  given  the  Democratic 
nomination  and  elected.  The  amity  between  the  two 
was  not  destined  to  long  endure.  Its  end  came  about 


John  C.  Calhoun  59 

in  this  fashion:  Previous  to  the  General's  election,  in 
late  December,  1827,  William  B.  Lewis,  Jackson's  per- 
sonal political  agent  chanced  to  meet  Colonel  James 
A.  Hamilton,  of  New  York,  son  of  Alexander  Hamil- 
ton, on  a  Mississippi  steamboat.  The  two  discussed  the 
General's  chances.  Hamilton  asked  Lewis  how  Jack- 
son and  Crawford  stood.  Lewis  explained  the  situa- 
tion and  Hamilton,  who  was  going  to  Georgia,  agreed 
to  see  Crawford  and  get  him  in  line  if  possible.  Lewis 
heard  no  more  from  Hamilton  and  concluded  he  had 
done  nothing,  until  meeting  him  in  New  York  the 
Colonel  explained  that  he  had  missed  seeing  Craw- 
ford but  had  left  the  matter  with  Governor  John 
Forsyth  of  Georgia  to  clean  up.  He  had  heard  from 
Forsyth  that  "Crawford  knew  he  had  been  accused  of 
suggesting  Jackson's  arrest  but  it  was  false.  No  such 
proposition  was  ever  made  by  him;  but  that  Mr.  Cal- 
houn did  propose  his  arrest  and  punishment  in  some 
way;  showing  on  various  occasions  a  hostility  to  his 
(Jackson's)  proceedings  in  his  Seminole  campaign." 

Lewis  got  back  to  Nashville  about  June  1,  1828, 
convinced  from  his  observations  that  Jackson  would 
win  by  an  overwhelming  majority.  He  therefore  kept 
the  Crawford  matter  to  himself  ufrom  an  apprehen- 
sion that  it  might  produce  an  explosion." 

After  election  friction  began  between  the  President 
and  Vice-President.  Calhoun  tried,  wisely,  to  prevent 
the  naming  of  Major  John  H.  Eaton  as  Secretary  of 
War.  It  would  have  been  fortunate  for  Jackson  had 
he  succeeded,  but  he  did  not. 

When  Eaton  was  named  the  Calhoun  forces  kept 
up  the  warfare  which  ended  in  the  wreck  of  the  cabinet 


60  John  C.  Calhoun 

and  well-nigh  ruined  the  Administration.  Jackson  con- 
tinued to  look  upon  Calhoun  as  one  who  had  been  his 
sincere  friend  and  was  more  than  tolerative.  Lewis 
observed  at  this  juncture,  which  was  before  inaugura- 
tion, that  he  and  many  others  of  Jackson's  friends  be- 
lieved that  Calhoun  was  plotting  against  him.  Jack- 
son's strength  had  been  used  to  break  down  Adams 
and  Clay.  Now  he  was  to  be  discarded  at  the  close  of 
his  first  term  to  make  way  for  Calhoun,  who  being  in 
his  second  term  as  Vice-President  could  not  expect  a 
third.  He  did  not  want  to  face  a  four  year  gap  and  so 
covertly  instituted  a  movement  to  deny  Jackson  a  re- 
nomination,  alleging  that  he  was  under  pledge  to  serve 
but  one  term.  This  was  easily  brushed  aside,  but  the 
knowledge  of  it  caused  more  ill-feeling.  Jackson's  con- 
fidence in  Calhoun  was  shaken.  He  was  now  to  learn 
that  he  had  been  mistaken  in  his  faith.  Jackson  gave  a 
dinner  to  ex-President  Monroe,  in  the  course  of  which 
Finch  Ringold,  United  States  Marshal  of  the  District 
of  Columbia,  remarked  to  Lewis  that  Mr.  Monroe 
was  the  only  friend  Jackson  had  in  the  former's  cab- 
inet. He  elaborated  his  point.  The  wily  Lewis  asked 
the  General  after  dinner  if  he  had  heard  their  con- 
versation. He  had  not.  He  was  told  its  purport  and  ex- 
pressed the  belief  that  Ringold  was  mistaken. 

"I  am  not  sure  of  that,"  said  Lewis. 

"Why  are  you  not?"  asked  Jackson. 

"Because  I  have  seen  a  letter  written  eighteen 
months  ago,  in  which  Mr.  Crawford  is  represented  as 
saying  that  you  charged  him  with  having  taken  ground 
against  him  in  Mr.  Monroe's  cabinet,  but  in  that  you 
had  done  him  an  injustice,  for  it  was  not  he  but  Mr. 


John  C.  Calhoun  61 

Calhoun,  who  was  in  favor  of  your  being  arrested  or 
punished  in  some  other  way." 

Jackson  was  astounded  and  sent  Lewis  to  New  York 
to  bring  him  the  letter.  Hamilton  preferred  to  secure 
Forsyth's  consent.  When  Congress  met  on  March  4, 
1829,  after  Jackson's  inauguration,  the  two  conferred 
in  Washington  and  decided  to  write  Crawford.  This 
was  done  and  in  due  season  Crawford  responded  sus- 
taining the  charge. 

The  President  at  once  "called"  Calhoun  who  dis- 
sembled. "I  should  be  blind,"  he  wrote  Jackson,  "not 
to  see  that  this  whole  affair  is  a  political  manoeuvre 
in  which  the  design  is  that  you  should  be  the  instrument 
and  I  the  victim." 

It  was  indeed  a  manoeuvre  of  rare  importance,  and 
he  was  destined  to  be  the  victim.  In  the  end  Calhoun 
lamely  admitted  that  he  had  made  the  move  in  Mon- 
roe's cabinet,  but  blamed  Crawford  for  revealing  an 
official  secret.  Annoyed  at  having  wasted  so  much 
hatred  on  Crawford  and  at  bestowing  so  much  con- 
fidence in  Calhoun  Jackson  gave  the  latter  a  good  go- 
ing over  in  a  letter  that  concluded:  "Understanding 
you  now,  no  further  communication  with  you  on  this 
subject  is  necessary." 

The  break  had  come,  but  it  was  not  open.  Officially 
they  were  on  terms.  But  the  Calhoun  purpose  to  sup- 
plant Jackson  at  the  end  of  four  years  was  not 
changed.  He  pulled  away  Duff  Green,  editor  of  the 
official  Telegraph  which  led  to  the  establishment  of  the 
Globe  by  Frank  P.  Blair.  Jackson  certainly  had  his 
hands  full,  finding  himself  as  Parton  puts  it,  "Early  in 
the  first  year  of  his  administration  engaged  in  a  triple 


62  John  C.  Calhoun 

war,  with  nullification,  the  Bank  of  the  United  States 
and  the  Whig  Party." 

The  first  chance  Calhoun  had  to  step  on  Jackson's 
toes  was  in  opposing  apportioning  of  surplus  national 
revenue  among  the  states.  He  was  silent  on  Jackson's 
bank  policy  but  to  quote  Jackson  in  a  letter  to  Judge 
John  Overton  uis  believed  to  have  encouraged  the  in- 
troduction and  adoption  of  the  resolutions  in  the  South 
Carolina  legislature  relative  to  the  tariff" — a  fore- 
runner of  nullification. 

Jackson's  heart  was  set  upon  a  surplus-distribution 
plan  as  "the  only  thing  that  can  allay  the  jealousies 
arising  between  the  different  sections  of  the  Union, 
and  prevent  that  flagitious  log-rolling  legislation  which 
must  in  the  end  destroy  everything  like  harmony,  if 
not  the  Union  itself."  This  measure  became  law,  with- 
out however  preventing  the  evils  he  foretold. 

The  varying  views  of  Jackson  and  Calhoun  collided 
most  dramatically  at  a  dinner  given  in  Washington, 
April  13,  1830,  to  celebrate  the  birthday  of  Thomas 
Jefferson.  The  President  and  Vice-President  were  in- 
vited guests.  Both  came.  It  was  a  subscription  affair 
and  twenty-four  toasts  were  on  the  program,  numbers 
of  which  savored  of  nullification,  so  much  so  as  to 
cause  comment  among  the  company.  Jackson  sensed 
the  situation  acutely.  When  all  the  routine  toasts  were 
over,  he  was  called  upon  to  offer  one  of  his  own.  He 
rose  with  his  glass  and  uttered  a  single  sentence:  "Our 
Federal  Union:  it  must  be  preserved." 

It  had  the  ring  of  a  clarion-call,  and  sent  a  thrill 
through  the  assemblage  that  stirred  every  bosom  in 
warm  response,  save  that  of  Calhoun,  who  countered 


John  C.  Calhoun  63 


thus:  "The  Union:  next  to  our  Liberty  most  dear: 
may  we  all  remember  that  it  can  only  be  preserved  by 
respecting  the  rights  of  the  States,  and  distributing 
equally  the  benefit  and  burthen  of  the  Union." 

In  this  fashion  the  doctrine  of  states  rights  was  pro- 
claimed. Jackson  had  been  forewarned  by  a  perusal 
of  the  program  and  came  ready  armed  with  his  toast. 
That  he  would  preserve  the  Union  was  beyond  doubt. 
That  his  discoveries  concerning  Calhoun's  duplicity 
added  strength  to  his  determination  can  also  be  be- 
lieved. 

Calhoun  now  proceeded  to  force  the  fighting.  He 
circulated  a  pamphlet  printed  in  the  office  of  Duff 
Green's  Telegraph,  which  had  joined  his  cause,  en- 
titled "Correspondence  between  General  Andrew  Jack- 
son and  John  C.  Calhoun,  President  and  Vice-Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  on  the  subject  of  the  course 
of  the  latter  in  the  deliberations  of  the  cabinet  of  Mr. 
Monroe  on  the  occurrence  of  the  Seminole  War."  It 
will  be  perceived  that  Mr.  Calhoun  did  not  regard  the 
Vice-President  as  a  nonentity,  a  position  into  which 
the  office  drifted  thereafter.  Jackson  wrote  "An  ex- 
position of  Mr.  Calhoun's  course  toward  General 
Jackson"  but  never  published  it,  and  its  main  points 
first  came  to  light  in  Benton's  "Thirty  Years'  View," 
twenty  years  after.  The  break-up  in  Jackson's  cabinet 
now  followed,  credited  to  the  social  disturbance  over 
"Peggy"  Eaton,  wife  of  the  Secretary  of  War  whose 
father  kept  a  Washington  saloon;  besides  which 
"Peggy"  had  the  reputation  of  being  rather  free  with 
some  of  his  customers.  Eaton  got  out,  but  the  real  pit- 
digger  was  Calhoun.  He  turned  such  a  fire  on  Martin 


64  John  C.  Calhoun 

Van  Buren,  that  he  retired.  Three,  Samuel  D.  Ingham, 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  John  Branch,  Secretary  of 
the  Navy,  and  John  M.  Berrien,  Attorney  General, 
strong  Calhoun  supporters,  resigned  at  the  President's 
request,  though  with  testimonials  of  official  esteem. 
Crawford  took  a  hand  in  the  controversy  by  saying  he 
had  not  divulged  the  cabinet  "secret"  as  the  story 
concerning  its  discussion  of  Jackson,  had,  as  already 
stated,  been  revealed  in  a  letter  to  a  Nashville  news- 
paper— an  incident  suspicious  in  itself,  as  being  Jack- 
son's home  town — but  with  the  facts  reversed.  He  now 
expressed  his  belief  that  this  had  been  the  deliberate 
work  of  Calhoun  designed  to  destroy  his  vogue  with 
Jackson,  which  it  did. 

Calhoun  himself,  while  Vice-President  in  the  sum- 
mer of  183 1,  came  out  in  a  public  defense  of  nullifi- 
cation. James  Watson  Webb  giving  him  the  use  of  five 
long  columns  in  his  New  York  Courier  and  Enquirer 
for  the  purpose.  He  held  that  nullification  was  the 
"natural,  peaceful  and  proper  remedy"  for  "an  in- 
tolerable grievance  inflicted  by  Congress  upon  a  state 
or  a  section,"  and  cited  the  tariff  of  1828  as  such.  It 
was  "unconstitutional,  unequal  in  its  operation,  op- 
pressive to  the  South,"  and  "evil,  inveterate  and  dan- 
gerous." Money  was  piling  up  in  the  Treasury  at  the 
expense  of  the  South;  "the  honest  and  obvious  way"  to 
deal  with  such  a  situation  was  "by  a  timely  and  judi- 
cious reduction  of  the  imposts."  He  directly  opposed 
Jackson's  proposition  to  soothe  the  states  by  dividing 
the  surplus  among  them.  This  was  "most  dangerous 
and  unconstitutional"  and  certain  to  create  "an  an- 
tagonist interest  between  the  states  and  general  gov- 


John  C.  Calhoun  65 

ernment,  on  all  questions  of  appropriations,  which 
would  certainly  end  in  reducing  the  latter  to  a  mere 
office  of  collection  and  distribution"  while  "either  of 
these  modes  would  be  considered  by  the  section  suffer- 
ing under  the  present  high  duties,  as  a  fixed  determina- 
tion to  perpetuate  forever  what  it  considers  the  present 
unequal,  unconstitutional,  and  oppressive  burden;  and 
from  that  moment,  it  would  cease  to  look  to  the  gen- 
eral government  for  relief." 

This  was  a  plain  enough  threat  of  secession  and 
Jackson  so  regarded  it.  Calhoun  overlooked  South 
Carolina's  advantage  in  slave  labor.  New  England 
wages  were  slightly  higher  than  those  in  Great  Britain, 
but  were  more  than  offset  in  this  respect  by  the  unpaid 
servitors  of  the  South. 

Calhoun  became  a  candidate  for  President  without 
a  party.  He  was  nominated  for  the  office  at  a  public 
meeting  in  New  York,  August  9,  1831,  but  the  move- 
ment got  no  further.  "I  cannot  support  Clay,"  he 
wrote  his  South  Carolina  friend,  J.  H.  Hammond, 
"who,  in  my  opinion,  has  done  great  mischief  to  the 
country  (by  the  tariff)  and  I  have  no  confidence  in 
Jackson  who  is  too  ignorant,  too  suspicious  and  too 
weak  to  conduct  our  affairs  successfully."  Hardly  a 
sound  estimate  of  "Old  Hickory"  who  was  soon  to 
completely  confute  it.  He  was  also  guilty  of  a  bad 
piece  of  politics  in  breaking  a  tie  and  so  rejecting  the 
nomination  of  Martin  Van  Buren  as  minister  to  Eng- 
land, whither  he  had  already  gone  and  where  he  was  a 
social  success.  Calhoun  thought  this  would  be  the  end 
of  the  fox  of  Kinderhook.  "It  will  kill  him,  sir,  kill  him 
dead,"  was  his  excited  remark,  "he  will  never  kick, 


66  John  C.  Calhoun 

sir,  never  kick!"  Thomas  H.  Benton  knew  better, 
"You  have  broken  a  minister,"  he  told  Calhoun  "and 
elected  a  vice-president."  He  had  indeed. 

The  tariff  of  1828,  amended  unsatisfactorily  in 
1 83 1,  had  made  its  effects  disagreeably  felt  in  the 
South.  Georgia  had  joined  its  sister  state  in  protesting 
but  had  gone  no  further.  Calhoun  in  the  Vice-Presi- 
dent's chair  was  always  at  work;  adding  to  the  tense- 
ness of  the  situation.  South  Carolina's  voice  on  the 
floor  was  Robert  J.  Hayne,  who  made  a  great  speech 
to  have  it  answered  by  a  greater  one  from  Daniel 
Webster.  The  tariff  and  nullification  became  an  issue 
in  the  campaign  of  1832,  in  which  Jackson  stood  for 
re-election  against  Henry  Clay  and  to  the  amazement 
of  the  nullifiers  was  re-elected  by  an  enormous  ma- 
jority. Seeing  no  hope  in  the  outlook,  the  South  Caro- 
lina legislature  met  the  22nd  of  October  in  extra  ses- 
sion and  called  a  convention  to  consider  action  by  the 
state.  This  convened  at  Charleston  on  November  19th, 
and  by  a  vote  of  136  to  26  adopted  an  Ordinance  of 
Nullification,  together  with  an  address  to  the  People 
of  the  United  States,  justifying  its  course.  A  week 
later,  November  27th,  the  legislature  passed  an  act  to 
make  the  nullification  effective.  Governor  James  Ham- 
ilton made  it  law.  So  confident  were  the  nullifiers  of 
secession  that  they  struck  a  medal  bearing  Calhoun's 
portrait  and  inscribed:  "John  C.  Calhoun,  first  Presi- 
dent of  the  Southern  Confederacy." 

Jackson  met  the  movement  with  a  stern  proclama- 
tion, sending  besides  two  warships  and  General  Win- 
field  Scott  to  Charleston  to  deal  with  the  sedition. 
Robert   J.    Hayne   became    Governor   on    December 


John  C.  Calhoun  67 

13th,  resigning  from  the  Senate.  Calhoun  at  the  same 
time  resigned  as  Vice-President  and  was  elected  to 
fill  Hayne's  seat.  Hayne,  as  Governor  proclaimed  and 
fulminated,  warning  invaders  off  the  sacred  South  Car- 
olina soil  and  calling  on  its  citizens  to  prepare  for 
bloodshed.  Jackson  in  response  sent  a  message  to  Con- 
gress asking  for  the  passage  of  a  force-bill  that  would 
give  him  power  to  deal  with  the  unruly  state.  Calhoun 
had  just  reached  his  seat  when  it  was  read.  He  made  a 
cool,  subtle  reply,  saying  that  no  man  was  more  loyal 
to  the  Union  than  he  was  to  it  as  it  stood,  and  would 
be  the  last  to  question  its  authority.  In  furtherance  of 
his  position  he  introduced  a  group  of  "Resolutions  on 
the  powers  of  government,"  all  sustaining  the  doctrine 
of  nullification.  There  were  counter  resolves  by  Sena- 
tor Grundy  of  Tennessee,  upholding  Jackson,  and  a 
deal  of  debate. 

Nullification  was  to  have  gone  into  effect  on  Feb- 
ruary 1,  1833.  Nothing  happened,  though  Jackson  was 
strongly  inclined  to  proceed  against  Calhoun  for  trea- 
son and  have  him  hanged.  That  clever  nullifier  suc- 
ceeded in  securing  a  compromise  on  the  tariff  after  a 
contest  with  Clay  who  mocked  at  the  blustering  Car- 
olinians as  men  waving  wooden  swords,  quoting  John 
M.  Clayton  of  Delaware: —  "These  South  Carolinians 
act  very  badly,  but  they  are  good  fellows,  and  it  is  a 
pity  to  let  Jackson  hang  them."  Accordingly  Clay 
braved  the  wrath  of  the  northern  manufacturers  and 
on  March  2,  1833,  a  measure  was  passed  that  grad- 
ually reduced  the  protective  parts  of  the  tariff.  On  the 
same  day  Jackson  got  his  force  bill  but  never  found 
occasion  to  use  it.  Its  life  was  limited  to  that  of  the 


68  John  C.  Calhoun 

next  Congress.  Scott  and  the  two  warships  came  home. 

Calhoun  sat  in  the  senate,  not  as  the  representative 
of  a  party  but  of  his  state,  for  something  like  seven 
years,  supporting  Clay  and  Webster  as  a  rule  against 
Jackson  and  his  successor  Martin  Van  Buren.  He 
joined  with  Clay  in  passing  the  resolution  of  censure 
on  Jackson  as  responsible  for  the  panic  of  1837,  which 
was  to  be  expunged  before  Jackson's  death,  for  which 
Calhoun  also  voted. 

In  1835  he  again  threatened  independent  action  on 
the  part  of  the  Southern  states.  He  had  introduced  a 
bill  forbidding  the  delivery  of  anti-slavery  literature 
through  the  mails  and  in  supporting  it  said:  "I  must 
tell  the  Senate,  be  your  decision  what  it  may,  the  South 
will  never  abandon  the  principles  of  this  bill.  If  you 
refuse  co-operation  with  our  laws,  and  conflict  should 
ensue  between  your  and  our  law,  the  Southern  states' 
voice  will  never  yield  to  the  superiority  of  yours.  We 
have  a  remedy  in  our  hands,  which,  in  such  events, 
we  shall  not  fail  to  apply.  We  have  high  authority  for 
asserting  this,  in  such  cases.  'State  interposition  is  the 
rightful  remedy' — a  doctrine  first  announced  by  Jef- 
ferson, adopted  by  the  patriotic  and  republican  state 
of  Kentucky  by  solemn  resolution  in  1798,  and  finally 
carried  out  in  successful  practice  on  a  recent  occasion, 
ever  to  be  remembered  by  the  gallant  state,  which  I, 
in  part  have  the  honor  to  represent." 

In  pressing  the  measure  to  a  third  reading  he  neatly 
arranged  a  tie  to  smoke  out  Martin  Van  Buren,  the 
Vice-President  and  heir  to  the  Presidency,  thinking 
that  however  he  voted  it  would  unite  either  North  or 
South  against  him.  The  sly  fox  of  Kinderhook  voted  to 


John  C.  Calhoun  69 

advance  the  measure  to  third  reading  and  suffered  no 
ill  consequences.  The  bill  got  no  further.  In  September 
1837  Calhoun  suddenly  shifted  to  the  support  of  Van 
Buren,  deeply  disgusting  Henry  Clay. 

"The  gentleman/'  said  Clay  in  the  Senate  "has  gone 
over  to  the  enemy,  and  time  alone  can  disclose  the 
motive." 

"The  gentleman''  retorted  Calhoun,  "went  over  to 
the  enemy  and  did  not  leave  it  for  time  to  disclose  the 
motive." 

On  February  15th  following  Calhoun  made  a  speech 
favoring  Van  Buren's  plan  for  a  United  States  Treas- 
ury, independent  of  banks  and  special  currency.  Mr. 
Clay  gave  himself  four  days  off  to  consider  his  reply. 
When  it  came  it  did  not  answer  Calhoun's  arguments 
but  took  him  severely  to  task  for  changing  sides.  Cal- 
houn waited  twenty  days  before  answering  and  then 
polished  Clay  off  prettily.  The  speech  according  to  Ben- 
ton was  "profoundly  meditated  and  elaborately  com- 
posed; the  matter  solid  and  condensed,  the  style  chaste, 
terse,  and  vigorous.  *•*  *  It  was  a  masterly  ora- 
tion." Clay  rejoined  immediately  in  a  speech  bitter 
with  sarcasm  and  invective.  The  exchange  went  on  until 
Calhoun  conceded  the  last  word  to  Clay,  who  closed 
politely.  Calhoun  felt  he  had  vindicated  his  public 
course,  as  that  of  a  man  who  had  chosen  the  best  from 
what  was  before  him.  Clay  predicted  that  South  Caro- 
lina would  not  follow  Calhoun,  but  she  did,  giving  her 
vote  to  Van  Buren  in  1836. 

The  Abolitionists  now  began  bombarding  Senate 
and  House  with  petitions  asking  for  the  exclusion  of 
slavery  from  the  District  of  Columbia.  There  was 


70  John  C.  Calhoun 

much  debating  whether  or  not  to  receive  them.  Cal- 
houn favored  their  non-receipt.  Clay  saw  in  this  a 
clash  with  the  right  of  petition  guaranteed  by  the  Con- 
stitution and  his  view  was  accepted  by  the  Senate.  This 
disposed  of  the  petitions,  but  not  of  the  problem.  Cal- 
houn then  sought  to  get  the  Senate  on  record  in  a  way 
that  would  cover  questions  of  Federal  power  over 
slavery  and  to  that  end  presented  six  resolutions  all 
of  which  protected  the  institution.  Four  dealing  with 
the  states  were  passed  without  debate,  the  fifth  looking 
to  the  annexation  of  Texas  was  tabled.  The  sixth 
advised  citizens  not  to  meddle  with  conditions  in  the 
District  of  Columbia,  as  "immoral  and  sinful,"  and  to 
mind  their  own  business  as  this  would  be  "a  direct  and 
dangerous  attack  on  the  institutions  of  all  the  slave- 
holding  states."  Clay  agreed  as  to  the  doctrine  but  not 
the  reason  as  between  the  District  of  Columbia  and  the 
territories  which  were  thus  linked  together.  There  was 
a  wide  difference  in  a  legislative  sense.  Calhoun  now 
came  out  squarely  against  the  Missouri  compromise 
of  1820,  which  he  had  hitherto  accepted  and  declared 
it  had  abolished  slavery  where  it  had  legally  existed 
for  a  century. 

Clay  cut  out  the  "meddling"  in  the  resolution  and 
inserted  "interference."  It  was  passed  with  but  eight 
votes  against,  one  of  which  was  cast  by  Daniel  Web- 
ster. In  the  discussion  Calhoun  made  plain  his  belief 
that  the  abolition  agitation  if  permitted  to  gain  head- 
way would  result  in  secession.  Webster  and  Buchanan, 
though  of  different  parties  thought  Calhoun  was  going 
at  it  the  wrong  way.  Webster  wanted  to  curb  "inter- 
ference" by  citizens  with  regard  to  all  institutions, 


John  C.  Calhoun  71 

while  James  Buchanan  pointed  out  that  "we"  of  the 
North,  friendly  to  the  South,  had  been  placed  between 
two  fires.  Calhoun,  in  defense  justly  observed  that  the 
Union  could  not  be  saved  by  eulogies  upon  it,  and  laid 
down  the  dogma,  which  became  doctrine,  that  Con- 
gress had  no  power  to  legislate  upon  slave-holding  in 
a  territory,  so  as  to  prevent  citizens  of  slave-holding 
states  from  removing  thereto  with  their  chattels;  that 
it  had  no  authority  to  delegate  such  power  to  a  terri- 
tory, as  the  territory  had  no  such  power  (inherent) 
in  itself.  Herein  lay  the  germ  of  all  the  troubles  that 
were  to  follow  and  end  in  civil  war.  Towards  this  he 
led  steadily  in  his  Senate  course,  keeping  his  state  be- 
hind him. 

He  was  contemptuous  of  Clay  and  after  forcing 
the  compromise  on  the  tariff  in  1833  nad  remarked: 
"I  had  him  down.  I  had  him  on  his  back — I  was  his 
master." 

"He  my  master,"  was  Clay's  retort.  "I  would  not 
own  him  for  the  meanest  of  my  slaves." 

Calhoun  had  some  right  to  exult.  He  had  evaded 
the  wrath  of  Jackson  and  forced  Clay  to  lower  the 
tariff  which  was  his  pet.  Out  of  this  Calhoun  felt  that 
he  might  become  President  in  1844,  by  the  support  of 
the  grateful  South  and  Pennsylvania,  where  he  was 
strong.  Nothing  of  the  sort  came  to  pass.  February 
26,  1844,  John  H.  Upshur,  Secretary  of  State,  was 
killed  by  the  explosion  of  a  cannon  on  the  man  of  war 
Princeton,  and  President  Tyler,  who  was  a  hybrid, 
like  Calhoun,  gave  him  the  vacant  portfolio  March 
6th,  for  the  balance  of  his  term,  during  which  he  had 
to  deal  with  the  leavings  of  the  Oregon  controversy 


72  John  C.  Calhoun 

and  negotiated  the  Treaty  for  the  annexation  of 
Texas.  This  was  rejected  by  the  Senate  and  became  an 
issue  in  the  election  of  1844.  The  Whigs  had  beaten 
the  treaty,  and  Clay's  platform  opposed  absorption 
of  the  Republic.  Tyler  in  his  message  to  Congress  re- 
newed his  recommendation  that  Texas  be  taken  in. 
The  House  favored  it  in  a  joint  resolution,  which  was 
rejected  by  the  Senate.  Eager  as  the  President  was  to 
add  the  acquisition  of  Texas  to  his  laurels,  the  palm 
went  to  his  successor.  Dickering  dragged  along  until 
1846,  when  Texas  was  organized  as  a  state  on  Feb- 
ruary 19th.  The  Mexican  War  was  the  almost  im- 
mediate outcome. 

Calhoun  had  returned  to  the  Senate  and  opposed  the 
precipitate  action  proposed  by  President  Polk  when 
Mexico  made  armed  resistance  to  invasion  on  the  part 
of  Zachary  Taylor's  forces.  He  refused  to  recognize 
this  as  war  "according  to  the  sense  of  the  Constitution," 
and  acted  with  Webster  in  striving  for  delay  in  the  hope 
of  settlement.  So  he  cannot  be  accused  at  that  moment 
of  selecting  an  excuse  for  the  extension  of  slavery.  He 
feared  foreign  intervention  and  the  seizure  of  Oregon 
by  Great  Britain,  out  of  the  pending  boundary  dispute. 
Congress  disagreed  with  him  by  a  big  majority  and 
the  war  went  on  to  its  victorious  conclusion. 

The  huge  addition  of  territory  acquired  by  con- 
quest brought  the  extension  of  slavery  immediately  to 
the  fore,  Calhoun  at  once  announcing  that  he  should 
insist  upon  the  rights  of  the  southern  planters  to  ex- 
tend their  "institution"  into  the  new  lands.  According 
to  Benton  he  "openly  treated  as  enemies  of  the  South, 
all  who  opposed  it."  He  organized  members  of  Con- 


THE    SOUTH    CAROLINA    STAG    AT    BAY. 

CALHOUN    AND    HIS    ENEMIES 

Calhoun,  with  his  characteristic  goatee,  is  seen   standing  off  his  enemies  in  the   Senate, 
Ritchie,  Benton  and  others.     From  Yankee  Doodle,  March  0,   1847 


John  C.  Calhoun  73 

gress  from  the  South  into  secret  conferences  to  force 
his  purpose  of  "defence  and  protection"  for  their  sec- 
tion, and  wrote  a  manifesto  to  the  tune  of  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence  in  support  of  his  attitude.  Pre- 
viously, in  discussing  the  Oregon  bill,  he  had  asserted 
his  position:  "I  deny,"  he  declared  "that  the  laws  of 
Mexico  (forbidding  slavery)  can  have  the  effect  of  at- 
tributing to  them  that  of  keeping  slavery  out  of  New 
Mexico  and  California.  As  soon  as  the  treaties  be- 
tween the  two  countries  are  ratified  the  sovereignty 
and  authority  of  Mexico  in  the  territory  acquired  by  it 
becomes  extinct  and  that  of  the  United  States  is  sub- 
stituted in  its  place,  carrying  with  it  the  constitution, 
with  its  over-ruling  control  over  all  the  laws  and  in- 
stitutions of  Mexico  inconsistent  with  it." 

The  manifesto  was  passed  at  a  meeting  of  Calhoun's 
congressmen  and  senators,  thinly  attended,  but  had 
its  menacing  effect  in  producing  a  crisis  that  was  met 
by  the  compromise  of  1850.  Calhoun  had  become  too 
enfeebled  to  attend  the  Senate.  His  last  speech  was 
read  from  the  floor  by  Senator  J.  M.  Mason  of  Vir- 
ginia, on  March  4,  1850.  It  was  provoked  by  the  ap- 
plication of  California  for  admission  as  a  state  on  a 
Constitution  that  excluded  slavery.  In  it  he  asserted 
the  coming  of  secession,  pointing  out  that  Southern 
Methodists  and  Baptists  had  separated  from  the 
Northern  bodies  of  their  church  on  slavery  grounds. 
The  next  separation,  he  prophesied,  would  be  politi- 
cal, unless  Southern  rights  were  protected.  He  pro- 
posed a  singular  solution,  which  was :  uTo  provide  for 
the  insertion  of  a  provision  in  the  Constitution,  by  an 
amendment,  which  would  restore  to  the  South  in  sub- 


74  John  C.  Calhoun 

stance,  the  power  she  possesses  of  protecting  herself, 
before  the  equilibrium  between  the  sections  were  de- 
stroyed by  the  action  of  this  government.' ' 

The  provisions  of  the  amendment  were  not  stated, 
but  he  planned  that  it  should  provide  for  the  election 
of  two  Presidents,  one  from  the  North,  the  other  from 
the  South,  without  whose  joint  signature  no  act  of 
Congress  should  become  law. 

This  was  his  final  effort  for  his  cause.  He  died 
March  31,  1850,  breathing  fire. 

"Calhoun"  wrote  Theodore  Parker  after  the  for- 
mer's death,  (though  a  fellow  Unitarian  and  a 
founder  of  the  church  in  Washington),  "was  slavery: 
the  greatest  sophist  the  nation  ever  knew  was  properly 
devoted  to  the  worst  institution  now  in  the  growing 
world."  "His  eloquence  was  part  of  his  intellectual 
character"  said  Daniel  Webster  in  eulogy:  "It  was 
plain,  strong,  terse,  condensed,  concise,  sometimes  im- 
passioned, still  always  severe.  Rejecting  ornament,  not 
often  seeking  for  illustration,  his  power  consisted  in 
the  plainness  of  his  propositions,  in  the  closeness  of 
his  logic  and  in  the  energy  and  earnestness  of  his  man- 
ner. I  have  known  no  man  who  wasted  less  of  life  in 
what  is  called  recreation,  or  employed  less  of  it  in  any 
pursuits  not  immediately  connected  with  the  discharge 
of  his  duty.  He  seemed  to  have  no  recreation  but  the 
pleasure  of  conversation  with  his  friends." 

His  only  real  relaxation  was  carrying  on  his  planta- 
tion at  Fort  Hill,  Georgia.  This  he  enjoyed  greatly. 
Here  also  he  made  life  agreeable  for  his  family  and 
kept  open  house  to  friends.  Mrs.  Jefferson  Davis,  who 


John  C.  Calhoun  75 

saw  Calhoun  during  a  visit  to  Mississippi  in  1845 
thus  describes  him:  "His  head  was  rather  long  than 
broad,  the  ears  were  placed  low  upon  it,  the  depth 
from  front  to  back  was  very  great;  his  forehead  was 
low,  steep  and  jutted  squarely  over  the  most  glorious 
pair  of  yellow-brown  eyes,  that  seemed  to  have  a  light 
inherent  in  themselves.  They  looked  steadily  out  from 
under  bushy  eyebrows  that  made  the  deep  sockets  look 
still  more  sunken.  When  excited,  the  pupils  filled  the 
iris  and  made  his  eyes  seem  black.  He  lowered  them 
less  than  any  one  I  have  ever  seen;  they  were  steadily 
bent  on  the  object  with  which  he  was  engaged;  indeed 
on  some  people  they  had  almost  mesmeric  power. 

"He  wore  his  thick  hair  all  the  same  length,  and 
rather  long,  combed  straight  back  from  his  forehead. 
This  with  his  brilliant  eyes  and  unflinching  gaze,  gave 
his  head  the  expression  of  an  eagle's.  His  mouth  was 
wide  and  straight.  He  rarely  smiled,  and  the  firmly 
square  chin  and  grave  manner  made  a  personality  strik- 
ing in  the  extreme.  He  was  tall  and  slenderly  built, 
quick  and  alert  in  both  speech  and  movement,  but  mind 
and  body  were  so  equally  and  rarely  adjusted  to  each 
other  that  no  dignity  could  be  more  supreme  than  Mr. 
Calhoun's. 

"His  voice  was  not  musical;  it  was  the  voice  of  a 
professor  of  mathematics,  and  suited  his  didactic  dis- 
course admirably.  He  made  few  gestures,  but  those 
nervous,  gentlemanly  hands  seemed  to  point  the  way  to 
empire." 

He  spoke  so  rapidly  that  it  was  difficult  to  follow  him 
without  the  closest  attention. 


76  John  C.  Calhoun 

Andrew  Jackson  on  his  death-bed  deeply  regretted 
that  he  had  not  hanged  Calhoun.  "My  country,"  he 
said  with  almost  his  last  breath,  "would  have  sustained 
me  in  the  act,  and  his  fate  would  have  been  a  warning 
to  traitors  in  all  time  to  come." 


Courtesy  of  metropolitan  Museum  of  Art 

HENRY     CLAY 
From  the  painting-  by  Samuel  Morse 


IV 
HENRY  CLAY 


"harry  of  the  west" 


IF  Henry  Clay  made  a  president  when  he  swung 
his  strength  in  Congress  to  John  Quincy  Adams, 
he  also  made  an  unrelenting  enemy  of  Andrew 
Jackson,  whose  hostility  was  to  cost  him  dear.  They 
had  first  met  at  Washington  in  1815,  when  Jackson 
was  in  the  full  flower  of  his  fame,  through  winning 
the  battle  of  New  Orleans  a  month  after  Clay  and  his 
fellows  commissioners  had  concluded  the  Treaty  of 
Peace  with  England  at  Ghent.  Clay  was  Speaker  of 
the  House  of  Representatives  and  their  intercourse  as 
he  described  it  was  "friendly  and  cordial."  But  Clay 
joined  in  the  criticism  of  Jackson's  Florida  perform- 
ances, not  dreaming  that  public  utterances  on  public 
policy  could  be  considered  an  affront.  Jackson,  how- 
ever, so  viewed  it.  He  aspersed  Clay  in  private;  and 
was  repaid,  when,  with  the  Presidential  prize  almost 
in  his  grasp,  he  lost  it  at  the  Kentuckian's  hands. 

They  met  and  dined  together  when  Jackson  came  to 
the  Senate  in  1823,  but  established  no  relations.  Up 
to  this  time  they  had  both  been  of  the  party  of  Thomas 
Jefferson.  A  cleavage  now  began  in  which  all  the  ad- 
vantages were  to  become  those  of  Jackson.  The  warm 
and  generous  heart  of   Clay  could  embrace  anyone 

77 


78  Henry  Clay 


who  called  him  friend  but  had  in  it  little  room  for  the 
General.  They  were  miles  apart  in  thought  and  feel- 
ing. Jackson's  love  of  country  was  a  personal  passion. 
Clay's  devotion  was  that  of  a  statesman,  seeking  to 
share  its  benefits  with  all.  He  was  a  born  leader  of  men. 
Horace  Greeley,  whose  capacity  for  affection  was 
small  declared  that  he  "loved"  Henry  Clay.  Indeed 
men  swore  by  him  as  they  did  no  other  American  politi- 
cian. Kentucky  adored  him.  It  was  a  treat  to  hear  him 
on  the  stump.  He  was  everywhere  acclaimed  and  knew 
how  to  handle  hecklers.  On  one  occasion  he  ran  into  a 
shooting  match  and  was  asked  to  try  his  marksman- 
ship. The  test  was  critical,  for  the  voters  were  apt  to 
be  governed  by  the  result.  He  had  only  a  casual  ac- 
quaintance with  the  rifle  but  banged  away,  and  had  the 
luck  to  make  a  bull's-eye.  There  was  loud  acclaim  of 
"accident."  "When  you  beat  it,"  he  said,  "I'll  do  it 
again."  No  one  "beat  it"  and  his  supremacy  stood. 
His  popularity,  as  William  Wirt  put  it  was  the  sort 
that  followed — was  not  run  after. 

If  ever  a  man  deserved  the  Presidency  both  from 
his  talents  and  personal  popularity  it  was  Clay.  Yet  he 
was  destined  not  to  arrive,  the  relentless  Jackson 
standing  ever  in  the  way.  "Mr.  Clay"  the  General 
wrote  to  Samuel  Swartwout,  of  New  York,  "has  never 
yet  risked  himself  for  his  country.  He  has  not  sacri- 
ficed his  repose  nor  made  an  effort  to  repel  an  invad- 
ing foe.  Of  course  'his  conscience'  assured  him  it  was 
altogether  wrong  in  any  man  to  lead  his  countrymen 
to  battle  and  victory."  When  Adams  appointed  Clay 
Secretary  of  State  and  the  confirmation  came  up  in  the 
Senate,  Jackson  voted  "no." 


Henry  Clay  79 


Though  a  Virginian,  Clay  was  humbly  born,  the 
seventh  child  of  the  Rev.  John  Clay,  who  held  a  min- 
istry in  "The  Slashes/'  a  swampy  section  of  Hanover 
County.  He  came  into  the  world  April  12,  1777,  when 
the  revolution  was  raging  and  was  soon  an  orphan, 
his  father  dying  when  he  was  four  years  old.  The 
mother  married  again,  taking  Henry  Watkins  for  a 
husband.  He  was  kind  to  the  lad,  who,  as  he  grew  up 
acquired  the  sobriquet  of  "The  Mill  Boy  of  the 
Slashes"  because  of  his  carrying  grain  on  horseback 
to  be  ground  into  flour.  Peter  Deacon  taught  him  the 
rudiments  in  a  log  school  house.  He  worked  in  a 
country  store,  then  secured  a  job  as  copyist  in  the 
office  of  the  Virginia  Court  of  Chancery.  This  brought 
him  into  contact  with  George  Wythe,  at  Williams- 
burg, who  had  taught  law  to  Thomas  Jefferson  and 
John  Marshall.  He  performed  the  same  service  for 
Clay.  For  a  time  he  acted  as  Wythe's  amanuensis.  The 
lawyer  was  the  best  Greek  scholar  in  Virginia  and 
much  given  to  sprinkling  his  writings  with  Attic  salt 
in  the  original.  Clay  knew  no  Greek  and  found  great 
difficulty  in  copying. 

Admitted  to  the  bar  in  1797,  he  removed  to  Lexing- 
ton, Kentucky,  which  was  thereafter  to  be  his  home, 
and  met  with  instant  success.  The  pioneers  were  liti- 
gious and  he  had  plenty  to  do.  In  1803  Lexington  sent 
him  to  the  State  Legislature.  John  Adair  resigning  the 
United  States  senatorship  in  1806  he  was  appointed 
to  fill  the  vacancy.  He  served  again  in  1809  by  appoint- 
ment. Then  in  181 1  he  was  elected  a  member  of  Con- 
gress and  speedily  became  a  National  figure,  being 
selected  as  speaker,  a  post  he  was  destined  to  fill  with 


8o  Henry  Clay 


distinction  for  fourteen  years,  with  gaps  between,  the 
first  of  which  occurred  when  he  was  sent  as  one  of  the 
Commissioners  to  Ghent  in  1814  and  brought  to  an 
end  the  war  of  18 12,  of  which  he  had  been  an  ear- 
nest advocate  in  Congress,  where  he  resumed  his  seat 
and  the  speakership  on  his  return  from  that  mission. 
Though  he  owned  slaves  Clay  was  opposed  to  the  in- 
stitution. He  would  willingly  have  abolished  it  had 
he  known  how.  The  puzzle  was  what  to  do  with  them 
if  free.  It  was  felt  that  they  could  not  be  turned  loose 
to  become  a  permanent  inferior  class  in  the  community. 
The  idea  of  sending  them  back  to  Africa  seemed  the 
best  solution.  In  18 16  the  American  Colonization  So- 
ciety was  formed  and  established  the  Republic  of  Li- 
beria. Clay  served  as  the  second  president  of  this  or- 
ganization, whose  main  purpose  was  to  remove  free 
negroes  to  Africa,  where  but  few  cared  to  go. 

It  was  upon  his  motion  that  a  joint  committee  was 
appointed  by  the  House  to  confer  with  one  from  the 
Senate  on  the  question  of  admitting  Missouri  to  the 
Union  as  a  slave  state.  To  this  was  due  the  compro- 
mise of  1820,  which  shut  out  the  institution  from  the 
rest  of  the  recently  acquired  Louisiana  purchase,  and 
stopped  a  threatened  secession.  Clay  was  not  the  au- 
thor of  the  proposition  which  originated  in  the  Senate 
but  gained  the  credit  for  its  adoption.  Also,  the  blame. 

After  the  passage  of  the  measure  Mr.  Clay  retired 
from  Congress  for  a  term  to  replenish  his  purse  at  the 
bar.  He  was  back  again  in  1823,  and  once  more 
speaker.  His  share  in  the  election  of  Adams,  and  his 
own  candidacy  for  the  Presidency  have  been  detailed. 
Adams  and  Clay  upon  assuming  office  began  the  de- 


Henry  Clay  81 


velopment  of  what  was  to  become  the  Whig  party  out 
of  the  old  time  Federalists  and  those  who  opposed 
Jackson,  thus  departing  forever  from  the  principles  of 
Jefferson,  becoming  protectionists,  friends  of  the 
United  States  bank  and  all  the  things  that  were  anath- 
ema to  u01d  Hickory.n 

In  1826  the  South  American  republics,  still  un- 
recognized by  Spain,  and  taking  the  Monroe  doctrine 
at  its  face,  invited  the  United  States  to  send  ministers 
to  a  congress  of  Latin-American  states  to  arrange  a 
relationship  for  their  own  protection.  This  congress 
was  to  meet  at  Panama,  then  a  location,  not  a  state, 
as  a  matter  of  convenience.  The  Monroe  doctrine  had 
been  proclaimed  not  long  before  while  Adams  was  Sec- 
retary of  State.  He  now  found  himself  face  to  face 
with  it  and  proceeded  to  interpret  it  in  his  own  way. 
He  sent  in  the  names  of  two  men  as  "ministers" — 
John  Sergeant  of  Pennsylvania,  and  Richard;  Clark 
Anderson  of  Kentucky.  His  message  and  methods 
aroused  the  Senate,  while  the  country  itself  shared  in 
its  excitement,  being  inclined  to  reach  out  a  brotherly 
hand,  which  the  Senate  was  not.  Many  of  the  South 
American  Republicans  were  a  shade  too  dark  to  as- 
sociate with  in  that  day.  Some  publications  on  behalf 
of  the  administration  program  fathered  by  the  Secre- 
tary of  State  roused  the  wrath  of  John  Randolph  of 
Roanoke  who  scored  Adams  and  Clay  in  the  Senate,  as 
a  compound  of  "Blifill  and  Black  George — The  Puri- 
tan and  the  Blackleg/'  He  further  intimated  that  Clay 
had  manufactured  the  invitations  from  the  republics. 

The  result  was  a  challenge  from  Clay,  which  Ran- 
dolph accepted.  Senator  Thomas  H.  Benton,  a  relative 


82  Henry  Clay 


of  Mrs.  Clay,  attempted  to  settle  the  dispute,  but 
failed.  Randolph,  determined,  however,  not  to  aim  at 
his  opponent.  On  the  way  to  the  ground  he  changed 
his  mind,  owing  to  some  reflection  that  reached  his 
ear.  General  Jesup  acted  as  Clay's  second,  while  Colo- 
nel Tatnall  acted  for  Randolph.  They  met  on  the  after- 
noon of  Saturday,  April  8,  1826,  on  the  Virginia 
shore  of  the  Potomac,  at  the  instance  of  Randolph, 
who  wanted  to  fall  on  its  sacred  soil  in  defence  of  its 
"rights"  whatever  these  might  have  been,  while  its 
earth  would  absorb  his  blood.  Before  Clay  received  his 
pistol  from  his  second  Randolph  accidentally  dis- 
charged his  own  weapon.  He  was  given  another.  Both 
fired  at  the  word.  Both  missed,  but  by  a  narrow  mar- 
gin as  the  course  of  the  bullets  showed. 

Benton,  who  was  present  as  a  mutual  friend  tried 
anew  to  effect  a  reconciliation  which  Clay  rejected  as 
"child's  play."  They  again  took  their  stations.  Clay 
fired  at  the  word.  Randolph  withheld  his  fire  and  find- 
ing himself  unhurt  emptied  his  pistol  in  the  air,  re- 
marking: "I  do  not  fire  at  you,  Mr.  Clay."  With  this 
he  offered  his  hand,  which  Clay  accepted,  Randolph 
remarking,  "Mr.  Clay,  you  owe  me  a  coat."  There  was 
a  bullet  hole  through  its  skirt.  "I  am  glad  the  debt  is 
no  greater,"  replied  Clay.  On  Monday  the  parties  ex- 
changed cards  and  resumed  friendly  relations.  "It  was 
about  the  last  high-toned  duel  I  have  witnessed"  re- 
cords Benton,  "and[  among  the  highest  toned  that  I 
have  ever  witnessed,  and  so  happily  conducted  to  a 
fortunate  issue — a  result  due  to  the  noble  character 
of  the  seconds  as  well  as  to  the  generous  and  heroic 
spirit  of  the  principals," 


Henry  Clay  83 


Eventually  the  ''ministers"  were  confirmed  and  Con- 
gress authorized  their  mission,  but  it  was  never  ful- 
filled. The  South  American  Congress  did  not  function 
far,  and  the  "Monroe  doctrine"  still  remains  uninter- 
preted. 

The  triumph  of  Jackson  over  Adams  in  1828 
caused  Clay's  retirement  from  public  life  for  several 
years,  during  which  he  was  busy  with  the  law  at  Lex- 
ington. In  1 83 1  he  took  his  seat  in  the  Senate.  So 
tumultuous  had  been  Jackson's  first  administration  that 
it  was  readily  agreed  that  he  could  not  succeed  himself. 
Calhoun,  as  noted  was  of  that  opinion,  and  contrived 
at  bringing  it  about,  but  defeated  his  own  purpose  by 
his  stand  on  nullification.  The  Anti-Jacksonians  had 
not  yet  taken  on  the  guise  of  Whigs,  but  called  them- 
selves "National  Republicans."  They  met  in  conven- 
tion at  Baltimore  on  December  12,  1831,  one  hundred 
and  sixty-seven  delegates  attending.  It  was  hardly  na- 
tional in  content.  South  Carolina,  which  thought  itself 
out  of  the  Union,  Georgia,  which  sympathized  with  it, 
Alabama,  Mississippi,  Illinois  and  Missouri  sent  no 
representatives.  Clay  was  nominated  by  acclamation, 
each  delegation  announcing  its  vote  through  a  chair- 
man. All  were  for  Clay.  John  Sergeant,  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, was  the  candidate  for  Vice-President.  The  plat- 
form summed  up  the  sins  of  Jackson,  which  were  nu- 
merous, but  popular,  involving  as  they  did  the  tariff,  the 
United  States  Bank,  internal  improvements  and  the 
expulsion  of  the  Georgia  Cherokees. 

Further  support  for  Clay  came  from  a  "Young 
Men's"  Convention  held  at  Washington  in  May,  1832. 
This  gathering  endorsed  Clay,  internal  improvements, 


84  Henry  Clay 


and  the  tariff.  It  also  denounced  Jackson's  over-ruling 
the  United  States  Supreme  Court  in  the  case  of  the 
Cherokees,  whose  rights  that  body  had  upheld,  but 
which  Jackson  refused  to  enforce.  He  had  fought  the 
Indians  and  bore  them  no  good-will,  civilized  and 
worthy  as  they  were.  It  also  disapproved  of  the  newly 
inaugurated  "Spoils  System." 

The  Anti-Masonic  madness  was  raging.  Its  follow- 
ers were  opposed  to  Jackson.  They  had  met  in  con- 
vention at  Baltimore  September  16,  1831,  and  put  up 
William  Wirt,  the  celebrated  jurist  of  Maryland,  for 
President  and  James  Ellmaker,  of  Pennsylvania,  for 
Vice-President.  Thus  the  anti-Jackson  forces  were 
divided.  The  campaign  that  followed  was  one  of  tre- 
mendous vehemence  but  all  signs  went  Jackson's  way 
in  the  preliminary  elections.  A  Jackson  man  even  cap- 
tured the  governorship  of  Kentucky,  though  the  Lieu- 
tenant Governor  was  of  Clay's  company.  It  was  loudly 
claimed  that  "repeaters"  who  flocked  over  from  Ten- 
nessee were  responsible  for  the  result.  That  they  had 
a  hand  in  it  is  more  than  likely.  There  were  not  many 
scruples  in  Jackson's  politics.  But  the  stars  were  set 
against  "Harry  of  the  West." 

Clay  was  badly  beaten.  The  electoral  college  stood 
219  for  Jackson,  49  for  Clay  and  7  for  Wirt.  Virginia 
and  South  Carolina  split,  giving  eleven  votes  to  John 
Floyd.  The  popular  vote  was  687,500  for  Jackson;  the 
combined  opposition  behind  Clay  and  Wirt  polled  530,- 
189.  The  Clay  states  were  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Is- 
land, Connecticut,  Kentucky  and  in  part  Maryland, 
where  some  Clay  electors  got  in  by  four  majority. 
Tennessee  went  almost  unanimously  for  Jackson,  there 


liWjijjifiWIT 


MR.  CLAY  TAKING  A  NEW  VIEW  OF  THE  TEXAS  QUESTION 


Now  for  one  I  certainly  am  not  willing  to  involve  thin  ) 

country  in  a   foreign  war   for  the   object  of  acquiring  KA,  PE,  FI    FO  FUM  ■ 

IfiT'      .I"""        .  k"' '"h.  and  justice,  are  equally  !>  I  SMELL  THE  BLOOD  OF  A  MEXICL'N  ' 

iuo^-m'Z7,^kt^.  We8k  ■"  toWard  U,e  I  °EAD  °B  AL,VE  '  WU^  "AVE  SOMR  I 


feel  »«  if  I  yet  must  go  and  i 


CLAY  AND  THE  TEXAS  QUESTION 

Clay's  equivocal  stand  with  regard  to  Texas  was  one  of  the   determining  factors  in    the 

race  which   he  lost  to   Polk,  who  was  more  outright  in  his  utterances 

Prom  Yankee  Doodle,  February  G,  1847 


Henry  Clay  85 


being  but  1436  Clay  ballots  cast.  Georgia  and  Alabama 
gave  him  no  votes  at  all. 

Defeat  did  not  disturb  Clay's  prestige.  He  loomed 
up  larger  than  ever  in  the  Senate  and  became  the  fore- 
most of  the  Whigs.  For  supporters  he  had  the  mighty 
Webster  and  for  much  of  the  time  Calhoun.  Van 
Buren  became  President  by  the  will  of  Jackson,  and 
continued  his  policies.  Calhoun  deserted  Clay  and  his 
following  was  difficult  to  handle.  The  slavery  question 
raised  its  head  ominously.  He  could  not  save  the 
United  States  Bank.  When  it  became  time  to  replace 
Van  Buren  the  opportunity  should  again  have  been 
Clay's.  His  party  was  out  of  hand  and  the  nomination 
went  to  William  Henry  Harrison,  with  John  Tyler  of 
Virginia  for  Vice-President.  The  resulting  "Log- 
Cabin"  and  "Hard  Cider"  campaign  was  something  re- 
markable. Van  Buren  ran  again,  but  with  a  divided 
party  and  no  candidate  for  Vice-President  he  was  de- 
feated. 

According  to  Benton,  Clay  had  determined  to  retire 
in  November,  1840,  when  Harrison  won,  after  he  him- 
self had  been  set  aside  for  the  nomination.  As  Benton 
gives  his  state  of  mind:  uThe  determination  was 
formed  from  the  moment  that  he  found  himself  super- 
seded at  the  head  of  his  party  by  a  process  of  intricate 
and  trackless  filtration  of  public  opinion,  which  left 
him  a  dreg  where  he  had  been  for  many  years  the  head. 
It  was  a  mistake,  the  effect  of  calculation,  which  ended 
more  disastrously  for  the  party  than  himself.  Mr.  Clay 
should  have  been  elected,  at  that  time.  The  same  power 
which  elected  Harrison  would  have  elected  him.  The 
banks  enabled  the  party  to  do  it.  In  a  state  of  suspen- 


86  Henry  Clay 


sion  they  could  furnish  without  detriment  to  them- 
selves the  funds  for  the  campaign.  Affecting  to  be 
ruined  by  the  government  they  could  create  distress : 
and  thus  act  upon  the  community  with  the  double  bat- 
tery of  terror  and  seduction.  Lending  all  their  energies 
and  resources  to  a  political  party,  they  elected  Har- 
rison with  a  hurrah  and  could  have  done  the  same  by 
Clay." 

Benton  thought  Clay  missed  a  psychological  mo- 
ment in  not  getting  out.  Probably  Webster,  who  be- 
came Harrison's  Secretary  of  State  persuaded  him  to 
stay.  The  Whigs  in  control  of  the  Senate  were  at  last, 
they  thought,  a  real  party  and  in  a  position  to  do 
something.  It  proved  quite  otherwise.  Harrison  died 
after  a  month  in  office  and  Tyler  took  his  place.  Tyler 
had  been  a  follower  of  Jackson  and  his  message  on 
taking  office  was  so  much  more  Jacksonian  than  Whig 
that  Clay  presented  to  the  Senate  a  program  of  his 
own,  embracing  among  other  things  these  items: 

i — The  repeal  of  the  Sub-Treasury  act. 

2 — The  incorporation  of  a  bank  adapted  to  the 
wants  of  the  people  and  the  government. 

3 — The  provision  of  an  adequate  revenue  for  the 
government  by  the  imposition  of  duties,  and  in- 
cluding an  authority  to  contract  a  temporary 
loan  to  cover  the  public  debt  created  by  the  last 
administration. 

4 — 'The  prospective  distribution  of  the  proceeds 
from  public  land  sales. 

This   last,    as    Senator   Benton    observed,    was    an 


Henry  Clay  87 


absurd  corollary  to  the  item  preceding  it.  Clay  did  not 
get  on  well  with  Tyler,  nor  did  most  of  the  Whigs. 

Clay's  leadership  in  the  Senate  became  ineffective, 
even  though  the  Democrats  were  in  the  minority.  An 
effort,  often  made  since  to  limit  debate,  which  he 
fathered,  was  defeated  to  his  deep  disgust,  by  votes 
on  his  own  side,  in  defense  of  the  liberty  of  speech; 
that  being  the  freedom  to  talk  a  bill  to  death  which 
still  prevails.  His  insistence  annoyed  one  of  his  fellows 
who  said:  "He  gives  your  party  a  great  deal  of  trouble, 
and  his  own  a  great  deal  more."  Defending  the  tariff 
also  became  burdensome.  Local  interests  were  always 
bobbing  up  in  one  way  or  another  and  kept  him  in 
trouble. 

Vexed  at  his  own  futility  he  resigned  his  seat  in 
March,  1842,  and  went  back  to  Lexington.  His  fare- 
well speech  was  classic  in  diction  and  damp  with  emo- 
tion. This  is  a  sample  sob : 

I  emigrated  from  Virginia  to  the  State  of  Kentucky  now 
nearly  forty-five  years  ago:  I  went  as  an  orphan  boy  who  had 
not  yet  attained  the  age  of  majority;  who  had  never  recognized 
a  father's  smile,  nor  felt  his  warm  caresses;  poor,  pennyless, 
without  the  favor  of  the  great,  with  an  imperfect  and  neg- 
lected education,  hardly  sufficient  for  the  ordinary  business  and 
common  pursuits  of  life;  but  scarce  had  I  set  foot  upon  her 
generous  soil  when  I  was  embraced  with  paternal  fondness, 
expressed  as  though  I  had  been  a  favorite  child,  and  patronized 
with  liberal  and  unbounded  munificence.  From  that  period 
the  highest  honors  of  the  state  had  been  bestowed  upon  me; 
and,  when  in  the  darkest  hours  of  calumny  and  distraction, 
I  seemed  to  be  assailed  by  all  the  rest  of  the  world,  she  inter- 
posed her  broad  and  impenetrable  shield,  repelled  the  poisoned 


88  Henry  Clay 


shafts  that  were  aimed  for  my  destruction  and  vindicated  my 
good  name  from  every  malignant  and  unfounded  aspersion.  I 
return  with  indescribable  pleasure  to  linger  a  while  longer  and 
mingle  with  the  warm-hearted  and  whole-souled  people  of  that 
state;  and,  when  the  last  scene  shall  forever  close  upon  me, 
I  hope  that  my  earthly  remains  will  be  laid  under  her  green 
sod  with  those  of  her  gallant  and  patriotic  sons. 

Mainly  bathos,  say  you?  Yes,  but  the  Senate  wept 
at  hearing  it  and  gave  him  the  wettest  kind  of  a  fare- 
well. At  Lexington  he  had  established  a  fine  estate 
called  Ashland,,  where  he  led  an  enjoyable  life  out  of 
range  of  the  slings  and  arrows,  betting  pretty  heavily 
on  cards  and  horses  and  consuming  a  good  deal  of  old 
Bourbon.  He  was  no  less  a  popular  idol  than  when  sit- 
ting helplessly  in  the  Senate. 

When  it  came  time  for  the  Whigs  to  nominate  in 
1844,  Clay  was  unanimously  called  upon  to  head  the 
ticket  against  James  K.  Polk.  Theodore  Frelinghuysen, 
of  New  Jersey,  was  named  for  Vice-President;  this  at 
a  convention  held  in  Baltimore  May  1,  1844.  The  an- 
nexation of  Texas  was  a  burning  question.  Clay  op- 
posed it  as  "dangerous  to  the  tranquillity  of  the  coun- 
try, unjust  to  Mexico,  and  dishonorable  in  the  eyes 
of  the  world."  Martin  Van  Buren,  who  was  a  candi- 
date for  the  Democratic  nomination  held  the  same 
view.  He  lost  out  to  Polk,  largely  because  of  it.  Polk 
was  an  obscurity  compared  to  Clay,  but  he  was  against 
the  tariff,  Jacksonian,  and  in  favor  of  taking  Texas. 
Tyler  rejected  by  the  Whigs  was  named  by  a  conven- 
tion of  his  own  on  the  Texas  platform,  but  receiving 
no  encouragement,  he  withdrew  on  August  20,  1844, 
leaving  the  field  to  Polk  and  Clay.  Jackson  was  still 


Henry  Clay  89 


living  and  his  weight  went  to  his  fellow  Tennessean. 
Clay  was  not  clear  on  anything.  He  hedged  a  little  on 
the  annexation  question,  the  chief  objection  to  which 
was  the  addition  of  more  slave  territory.  This  cost 
him  votes  in  the  South.  Endeavoring  to  overcome 
them,  by  deprecating  the  slavery  arguments,  he  lost 
votes  in  the  North.  Texas  became  and  remained  the 
issue.  While  the  election  lacked  the  fury  of  that  of 
1840,  it  was  spirited  and  the  result  close.  Van  Buren 
ran  on  a  free-soil  ticket  and  there  was  no  popular 
majority,  while  Polk's  plurality  over  Clay  was  less 
than  forty  thousand.  For  a  time  it  looked  as  though 
Clay  had  won.  I  recall  visiting  Jackson's  "Hermitage" 
near  Nashville,  in  1899,  where  there  still  was  an  old 
colored  retainer  who  said:  "You  gentlemen  from  New 
.York!  Ole  General  mighty  fond  of  New  York.  I 
member  ebery  one  round  heah  done  say  Mas'  Clay 
elected.  Ole  General  he  say,  'You  all  ain't  heard  from 
New  York  yet.'  Sure  'nough  when  we  heard  from  New 
York  Mas'  Clay  not  elected." 

Polk  had  a  majority  of  69  electors.  Seven  free  states 
voted  for  Clay  and  six  for  Polk.  Polk  was  victor  in 
eight  slave  states,  Clay  in  five.  Among  the  latter  Ten- 
nessee shocked  Jackson  by  giving  Clay  a  majority  of 
113. 

The  Whigs  raised  a  cry  of  fraud  against  the  out- 
come in  New  York  and  Louisiana,  but  nothing  was 
proven.  Jackson  was  soon  dead,  adding  to  his  regret 
that  he  had  not  hanged  Calhoun,  his  neglect  to  shoot 
Henry  Clay.  Following  his  defeat  Clay  went  into  re- 
tirement at  Ashland. 

The  annexation  of  Texas  to  which  he  had  been  op- 


90  Henry  Clay 


posed  brought  on  the  war  with  Mexico  which  was 
also  against  his  judgment.  His  son,  Henry  Clay,  Jun- 
ior, went  to  the  front  and  left  his  life  at  Buena  Vista, 
heroically  refusing  when  wounded  to  let  his  men  bear 
him  from  the  field  at  the  risk  of  their  own  safety.  The 
outcome  of  the  war  again  brought  the*  question  of 
slavery  to  the  fore.  Calhoun  and  his  associates  turned 
eager  eyes  to  the  new  territory,  and  Kentucky  sent 
Clay  to  the  Senate  once  more  in  1849.  He  was  now 
seventy-two  and  his  days  were  numbered.  There  had 
been  many  changes  since  he  left  the  chamber  in  1842. 
William  H.  Seward  and  the  slavery  issue  were  prom- 
inent in  it.  He  came  back  on  the  edge  of  a  storm.  So 
early  as  1839  he  had  rejoiced  uthat  it  is9not  true  that 
either  of  the  two  great  parties  in  this  country  has  any 
design  or  aim  at  abolition.''  Yet  in  the  same  speech  his 
prophetic  vision  forced  him  to  say  that  the  question 
was  "bound  to  persist  in  traveling  the  long  and  bloody 
road  to  the  distant  goal  at  which  it  would  finally  ar- 
rive." 

He  had  much  to  do  with  the  compromise  of  1820 
and  was  now  to  share  responsibility  for  that  of  1850. 
The  coming  of  California,  the  rapid  increase  in  new 
territories  and  incidentally  states,  menaced  the  bal- 
ance maintained  in  politics  that  protected  the  institu- 
tion. He  knew  the  Union  was  in  peril  but  like  many 
others  was  guided  by  political  expediency  rather  than 
the  instincts  of  humanity — not  that  he  was  not  a 
humane  man.  He  was,  but  the  problem  .was  one  with 
which  neither  he  nor  any  other  man  was  able  to  deal. 
Coincident  with  his  return  to  public  life  Zachary  Tay- 
lor became  President  and  firmly  grasped  the  trouble- 


Henry  Clay  91 


some  situation  in  his  first  message.  Could  he  have  lived 
the  course  of  events  might  possibly  have  been  altered, 
or  at  least  delayed. 

The  question  of  the  admission  of  California  and  the 
status  of  the  new  territories  became  pressing  and  the 
task  of  adjusting  the  situation  was  given  to  Mr.  Clay, 
who  brought  in  a  series  of  resolutions,  eight  in  number, 
dealing  with  the  various  questions  involved.  These 
were  referred  on  April  18,  1850,  to  a  special  committee 
of  thirteen  of  which  he  became  chairman.  The  other 
members  were  Lewis  Cass  of  Michigan,  Daniel  Web- 
ster, of  Massachusetts,  Samuel  S.  Phelps,  of  Vermont, 
James  M.  Mason,  of  Virginia,  Jesse  D.  Bright,  of  In- 
diana, Daniel  S.  Dickinson,  of  New  York,  John  M. 
Berrien,  of  Georgia,  Willis  P.  Magum,  of  North  Car- 
olina, William  R.  King,  of  Alabama,  Solomon  W. 
Downs,  of  Louisiana,  John  Bell,  of  Tennessee  and 
James  Cooper,  of  Pennsylvania.  To  this  very  able 
body  of  men  was  given  the  task  of  shaping  satisfactory 
legislation  out  of  Clay's  plan  and  such  other  material 
as  might  be  offered.  Clay  held  out  nothing  to  slavery. 
His  resolutions  accepted  for  the  territories  taken  from 
Mexico  the  free  status  they  had  enjoyed  under  its  rule; 
leaving  them  to  regulate  the  future  themselves.  To  this 
Jefferson  Davis,  Senator  from  Mississippi  objected  as 
giving  nothing  to  the  South,  and  demanded  the  exten- 
sion of  the  line  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  to  the 
Pacific,  with  a  positive  provision  sanctioning  slavery 
below  it.  uComing  as  I  do,M  replied  Clay  in  a  noble 
utterance,  "from  a  slave  state,  it  is  my  solemn,  de- 
liberate and  well-matured  determination  that  no  power, 
no  earthly  power,  shall  compel  me  to  vote  for  the  posi- 


92  Henry  Clay 


tive  introduction  of  slavery  either  south  or  north  of 
that  line." 

The  committee  of  thirteen  reported  in  favor  of 
Clay's  proposition  which  was  put  in  legislative  form 
but  rejected.  For  several  months  the  differences  were 
under  debate.  While  pending,  President  Taylor  died, 
on  July  9,  1850.  His  death  placed  Millard  Fillmore, 
a  much  different  type  of  man  in  the  White  House. 

In  August  the  life  had  been  taken  out  of  the  Clay 
measures,  all  that  remained  being  a  bill  to  take  care  of 
Utah  and  the  Mormon  Church,  which  was  passed. 
Texas  was  up  in  arms,  claiming  a  slice  of  soil  held 
by  New  Mexico,  while  California  adopted  a  constitu- 
tion that  prohibited  slave-holding.  In  the  crux  Calhoun 
died.  Clay,  Webster  and  Fillmore  succeeded  in  bring- 
ing about  an  adjustment.  The  compromise  legislation 
was  the  last  of  Clay's  labors.  He  came  to  Washington 
to  attend  the  session  of  Congress  opening  in  Decem- 
ber, 185 1,  but  could  only  sit  in  his  senate  seat  a  single 
day.  Consumption  had  fixed  its  hold  upon  his  tall  body 
and  he  lingered  an  invalid  until  June  29,  1852,  when 
he  put  all  storms  behind  forever. 

His  demise  filled  the  country  with  mourning.  New 
York  bedecked  itself  in  black.  The  funeral  train  was 
everywhere  greeted  in  sorrow  as  it  bore  his  body  back 
to  Lexington.  Then  they  recalled  with  regretful  re- 
spect the  man  who  said:  "I  had  rather  be  right  than 
be  president"  and  wished  that  they  had  believed  him 
right. 

Clay  had  a  smooth  audacity  that  often  stoodj  him  in 
great  stead.  He  had  been  retained  to  represent  the 
interests  of  Kentucky  in  a  legal  contest  with  Virginia 


Henry  Clay  93 


in  the  United  States  Supreme  Court.  Though  Speaker 
of  the  House  he  had  never  appeared  before  that  au- 
gust body.  He  was  rather  discomposed  at  first  facing 
the  black-robed  dignitaries,  but  observing  Mr.  Justice 
Bushrod  Washington  take  snuff,  he  stepped  gracefully 
forward  and  helped  himself  to  a  pinch,  remarking, 
"I  perceive  your  honor  sticks  to  Scotch. "  This  broke 
the  ice,  and  almost  broke  up  the  court.  No  other  than 
Clay  could  have  taken  the  liberty. 

In  1806  when  Aaron  Burr  was  held  prisoner  in 
Louisville,  en  route  to  Richmond  for  trial,  a  mob  spirit 
rose  that  threatened  his  life.  Clay  was  in  town,  and 
becoming  alarmed,  visited  the  prisoner,  whose  counsel 
he  had  been,  and  remarked  reassuringly: 

"Mr.  Burr,  whatever  may  be  the  excitement  upon 
the  street,  depend  upon  it  I  will  be  answerable  for 
your  personal  safety." 

"Mr.  Clay,"  was  Burr's  response,  "I  have  never 
been  placed  in  any  circumstances  where  I  could  not 
protect  myself." 

Thomas  H.  Benton,  of  Missouri,  "Old  Bullion," 
was  the  only  Senator  who  could  get  Mr.  Clay's  "goat" 
as  we  moderns  say,  and  keep  it.  He  could  exasperate 
Clay  into  a  trembling  rage,  all  the  while  maintaining 
a  huge  placidity.  During  the  debate  on  the  fisheries 
question  in  1832,  Clay  rubbed  in  Benton's  duel  with 
Jackson  and  quoted  some  of  his  remarks  concerning 
the  President  with  whom  the  Senator  was  then  at 
peace,  among  others  an  alleged  statement  that  were 
Jackson  elected  "we  must  be  girded  with  pistols  and 
dirks  to  defend  ourselves  while  legislating  here."  This 
Benton   denounced   as   "an   atrocious   calumny,"    and 


94  Henry  Clay 


added  that  there  was  "an  adjourned  question  of  verac- 
ity" between  Clay  and  Jackson. 

Clay  retorted,  "The  assertion  that  there  is  an  ad- 
journed question  of  veracity  between  me  and  General 
Jackson,  is,  whether  made  by  man  or  master  absolutely 
false.  *  *  *  Can  you  look  me  in  the  face,  Sir,  and 
say  you  never  used  that  language  (pistols  and  dirks) 
out  of  the  State  of  Missouri." 

Mr.  Benton. — I  look,  sir,  and  repeat  that  it  is  an  atrocious 
calumny;  and  I  will  pin  it  to  him  who  reflects  it  here. 

Mr.  Clay. — Then  I  declare  before  the  Senate  that  you  said 
to  me  the  very  words. 

Mr.  Benton. — False!  False!  False! 

Mr.  Clay. — I  fling  back  the  charge  of  atrocious  calumny 
upon  the  senator  from  Missouri. 

Mr.  Ingersoll,  Chairman  protem. — The  Senator  from  Ken- 
tucky is  not  in  order  and  must  take  his  seat. 

Mr.  Clay. — Will  the  chair  state  the  point  of  order? 

Mr.  Ingersoll. — The  chair  can  enter  into  no  explanations 
with  the  Senator. 

Mr.  Clay. — I  shall  be  heard.  I  demand  to  know  what  point 
of  order  can  be  taken  against  me,  which  was  not  equally  ap- 
plicable to  the  Senator  from  Missouri. 

The  chair. — The  whole  discussion  is  out  of  order.  I  would 
not  have  permitted  it  had  I  been  in  the  chair  when  it  com- 
menced. 

Mr.  Benton. — I  apologize  to  the  Senate  for  the  manner  in 
which  I  have  spoken;  but  not  to  the  Senator  from  Kentucky. 

Mr.  Clay. — To  the  Senate  I  also  offer  apology.  To  the  Sena- 
tor from  Missouri  none. 


V 
LEWIS  CASS 

SOLDIER   AND   STATESMAN 

NO  party  ever  had  worse  luck  in  the  political 
outcomes  of  a  war  than  the  Democratic  in 
the  consequences  following  that  with  Mexico. 
The  great  Andrew  Jackson  had  seemingly  made  it 
omnipotent  only  to  spoil  his  work  by  forcing  the  nomi- 
nation of  Martin  Van  Buren,  leading  to  the  triumph 
of  Hard  Cider  and  Log  Cabins  in  the  campaign  of 
1840,  with  its  Whig  victory.  The  death  of  William 
Henry  Harrison  after  but  a  month  in  office,  put  John 
Tyler  in  his  place.  Tyler,  though  nominally  a  Whig, 
was  also  a  Virginian,  and  his  policies  speedily  became 
mainly  those  of  Jackson.  The  election  of  James  K. 
Polk,  of  Tennessee,  Democrat,  followed  in  1844,  and 
the  party  sun  shone  brighter  than  before.  Then  came 
the  Mexican  War  cloud.  The  party  had  not  developed 
any  hero  beside  Jackson,  who  had  been  gathered  to  his 
fathers  in  1845,  and  the  small  regular  army  had  Win- 
field  Scott,  a  Whig  at  its  head  with  Zachary  Taylor, 
unknown,  in  command  on  the  border,  where  the  trou- 
ble began.  It  all  happened  so  quickly  that  Polk  had 
no  chance  to  head  him  off  until  his  fame  was  firmly 
established.  One  Democrat  gained  repute  with  Taylor, 
Jefferson  Davis,  but  he  was  only  a  colonel  of  volun- 

95 


96  Lewis  Cass 


teers,  and  beside  was  Taylor's  son-in-law,  and  had  left 
the  army  in  a  pique. 

Scott  as  Commander-in-Chief,  demanded  his  right- 
ful place  at  the  front.  The  perplexed  Polk,  quite  aware 
of  the  political  potentiality  of  Taylor's  triumph,  saw 
in  Scott's  claim  a  chance  to  kill  two  presidential  possi- 
bilities at  one  essay,  to  the  extent  of  creating  a  rivalry 
that  might  take  them  both  out  of  the  arena,  and  ac- 
cordingly acceded  to  his  desire.  He  was  sent  by  sea  to 
Vera  Cruz,  with  a  large  force,  further  augmented 
by  stripping  Taylor's  army  of  all  but  a  few  men,  leav- 
ing him  to  contemplate  the  slow  growth  of  cactus  in 
Nuevo  Leon  while  Scott  hunted  glory  and  Santa  Anna 
from  the  Gulf  to  Chapultepec. 

The  war  was  a  strictly  Democratic  affair,  though 
run  by  a  Whig  general.  One  Democrat,  Franklin 
Pierce,  of  New  Hampshire,  perceived  the  political 
possibilities  of  a  war  record  and  had  himself  appointed 
a  Brigadier-General  by  Polk.  His  prescience  panned 
out  nicely  as  the  sequel  will  reveal.  There  was  rampant 
Whig  opposition.  No  less  personage  than  Thomas 
Corwin,  of  Ohio,  expressed  himself  in  the  Senate  in 
terms  that  rang:  "If  I  were  a  Mexican,"  he  told  his 
colleagues  from  the  South,  "I  would  tell  you,  'Have 
you  not  room  enough  in  your  country  to  bury  your 
dead  men?  If  you  come  into  mine  we  will  greet  you 
with  bloody  hands  and  welcome  you  to  hospitable 
graves.'  "  This,  however,  did  not  prevent  the  Whigs 
from  making  party  capital  out  of  the  victories  and 
eventually  annexing  Taylor.  The  latter,  unfairly  iso- 
lated at  Monterey,  soon  found  himself  besought  to 
be  a  candidate  by  both  parties  for  the  contest  in  1848. 


Lewis  Cass  97 


The  Democrats  thought  he  could  be  used  to  beat 
Scott  should  he  secure  the  Whig  nomination,  while 
the  Whigs  saw  in  his  fame  and  treatment  a  man  more 
likely  to  win  than  the  doughty  general  who  was  not 
popular  with  politicians  and  very  indiscreet  to  boot,  if 
he  could  be  annexed. 

Robert  J.  Walker,  Polk's  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
ury, put  out  a  Democratic  feeler  to  Jefferson  Davis, 
also  a  Democrat  from  Walker's  own  State  of  Mis- 
sissippi, to  which  the  latter  replied  from  Briarfield, 
Mississippi,  June  20,  1847: 

I  cannot  endorse  the  opinion  that  General  Taylor  has  been 
a  Democrat  all  his  life.  The  statement  in  relation  to  his  father 
as  a  supporter  of  Jefferson  is  correct,  and  it  might  have  been 
added  that  the  General  has  always  referred  to  the  strict  Jeffer- 
sonian  school  as  the  one  in  which  he  had  been  taught,  and  the 
elements  there  acquired  as  the  basis  of  his  political  opinions 
*  *  *  Briefly  I  should  say  he  is  noparty  man,  would  not  con- 
sent to  be  the  candidate  of  any  party,  and  probably  would 
disagree  with  the  ultra  men  of  both  parties. 

This  was  true  so  far  as  the  last  observation  is  con- 
cerned. Davis,  while  a  young  lieutenant  had  eloped 
with  Taylor's  daughter.  Her  death  soon  followed. 
As  a  result  he  was  on  terms  more  formal  than  intimate 
with  the  father,  who  a  month  later  expressed  himself 
to  Colonel  J.  F.  Hamtranck,  at  Saltillo,  thus,  writing 
from  Monterey,  July  30,  1847: 

I  fully  agree  with  you  that  my  returning  to  the  United  States 
at  the  time  alluded  to  would  be  made  a  pretext  for  assailing 
me  from  various  quarters  *  *  *  from  one  end  of  the  Union 
to  the  other,   by  the  various  aspirants   for  the  said  office  of 


98  Lewis  Cass 


President.  *  *  *  I  feel  vulnerable  only  on  one  point — my 
want  of  proper  qualifications  for  the  office  in  question.  It  is  a 
long  time  before  the  election  comes  on  *  *  *  before  which 
many  important  changes  at  home  and  abroad  may  take  place,  so 
much  so  as  to  make  it  desirable  for  the  general  good  that  some 
other  individual  than  myself  should  be  selected  as  the  candidate. 
*  *  *  I  have  not  the  vanity  to  believe  I  have  any  pretensions 
to  that  distinguished  station,  but  would  not  only  acquiese  with 
pleasure  in  such  an  arrangement,  but  would  rejoice  that  the 
Republic  had  one  citizen  more  worthy  and  better  qualified  than 
I  am. 

It  will  be  perceived  that  Taylor  was  something  more 
than  receptive.  He  elected  in  the  finality  to  take  the 
Whig  end  and  was  dfuly  nominated. 

The  Democrats  were  now  in  a  quandary.  They  had 
no  military  man  of  size  to  pit  against  him  and  his  ut- 
terances were  of  the  sort  to  make  him  popular  in  the 
North.  Polk,  although  he  had  conquered  Mexico  got 
no  good  opinions  out  of  it.  With  the  annexation  of 
Texas,  and  the  Mexican  Territory  gained,  he  was 
deemed  to  have  merely  made  more  room  into  which 
the  slave  power  could  expand.  That  meant  increased 
political  strength  in  the  South.  So  the  North  took  a 
stronger  hand  in  Democratic  politics  and  the  leaders 
picked  Lewis  Cass,  of  Michigan  as  the  standard 
bearer.  He  was  at  the  time  United  States  Senator  with 
a  long  and  honorable  career  to  his  credit.  Probably 
he  was  the  strongest  man  who  could  have  been  named. 

Mr.  Cass  had  his  beginnings  in  New  Hampshire. 
He  was  born  at  Exeter,  October  9,  1782.  John  Cass, 
his  father,  was  a  spirited  soldier  in  the  Revolution, 
coming  out  of  it  with  the  rank  of  Major,  and  remain- 


Lewis  Cass  99 


ing  in  the  service.  Sent  against  the  Ohio  Indians  he 
saw  much  of  the  country  and  liking  it  resigned  from 
the  army  and  removed  his  family  to  Marietta,  Ohio, 
in  1800.  Lewis  remained  behind  to  complete  his  studies 
at  Exeter  Academy.  Thence  when  eighteen,  he  walked 
across  Pennsylvania  to  Pittsburgh  and  made  his  way 
down  the  Ohio  to  join  his  father  who  had  settled  on 
land  given  him  for  his  services  in  the  revolution.  The 
youth  did  not  care  for  farming  and  took  to  law,  open- 
ing his  office  at  Zanesville.  Here  he  did  well  and  in 
1806  began  his  long  political  career  by  election  to  the 
Ohio  legislature. 

Burr's  venture  against  the  Spanish  of  the  Southwest 
was  taking  form  at  Blennerhassett's  island  and  caused 
general  alarm.  In  the  moves  to  thwart  it  Cass  took  an 
active  part.  He  got  thereby  into  the  good  graces  of 
President  Jefferson  who  praised  an  address  Cass  had 
penned  on  behalf  of  his  fellow  legislators  denouncing 
the  "conspiracy." 

Tecumseh's  agitations  led  to  the  raising  of  Ohio 
volunteers  in  1811.  Cass  became  a  colonel.  The  war  of 
18 12  followed  and  Cass  headed  the  invasion  into 
Canada,  being  the  first  man  to  set  foot  upon  the  soil 
in  a  hostile  sense  and  fired  the  first  shot.  He  was  under 
General  William  Hull,  when  he  surrendered  Detroit, 
to  the  great  disgust  of  the  colonel,  who  was  witness 
at  the  court  martial  which  tried  and  sentenced  Hull 
to  death.  Exchanged,  he  was  given  a  colonel's  commis- 
sion in  the  regular  army,  and  rose  to  Brigadier  Gen- 
eral. He  fought  in  the  battle  of  the  Thames.  General 
Harrison,  departing  for  Buffalo  after  that  victory,  on 
October  28,  18 13,  appointed  him  Provisional  Gover- 


loo  Lewis  Cass 


nor  of  the  North-West  Territory  and  left  him  with 
a  thousand  men  to  defend  Detroit.  President  Madison 
next  named  him  Territorial  Governor  of  Michigan. 
In  1 8 15  he  removed  his  family  to  Detroit,  filling  the 
office  until  1831.  He  performed  a  notable  feat  in  1820, 
when  under  orders  from  John  C.  Calhoun,  then  Secre- 
tary of  War,  he  conducted  an  expedition  along  the 
North-West  border,  as  far  as  then  developed,  to  sweep 
out  British  trading  posts  and  trespassers,  Calhoun 
having  in  mind  the  trouble  in  the  Ohio,  Indiana  and 
Michigan  country  after  the  Revolution  because  this 
precaution  had  not  been  then  taken. 

The  disruption  of  President  Andrew  Jackson's  cabi- 
net in  18*31,  made  an  opening  for  Cass  as  Secretary  of 
War.  He  was  appointed  and  took  office  in  July.  He 
was  much  in  Jackson's  company  and  highly  esteemed. 
Not  agreeing  with  the  Jackson  policy  of  withdrawing 
government  deposits  from  the  United  States  Bank, 
Cass  offered  to  resign  on  September  23,  1833.  The 
President  took  no  umbrage  at  the  difference  and  urged 
him  to  keep  his  post.  This  he  did  until  1836,  when 
toward  the  close  of  the  Jackson  administration  he  was 
appointed  Minister  to  France.  The  General's  regard 
for  him  was  lasting  and  among  the  ornaments  of  the 
foyer  in  the  Hermitage  near  Nashville,  was  a  bust  of 
Lewis  Cass. 

He  filled  the  French  post  for  six  years.  On  his  re- 
turn from  Paris  New  York  made  much  of  him.  Philip 
Hone  in  his  diary  records  on  December   13,    1842: 

The  late  Minister  to  France  is  all  the  fashion  in  New  York. 
He  receives  company  in  Presidential  and  Gubernatorial  style 


Lewis  Cass  101 


at  the  City  Hall.  He  has  defined  his  political  sentiments  in  a 
letter  to  Governor  Dickinson,  of  New  Jersey,  which  is  pub- 
lished with  a  flourish  of  trumpets  for  the  benefit  of  all  good 
Republicans  who  may  have  been  troubled  with  doubts  and  mis- 
givings on  that  important  subject.  He  professes  to  be  a  Demo- 
crat of  the  Jefferson  school  and  opposed  to  a  National  bank. 
The  return  of  General  Cass  at  this  time,  and  the  declaration 
drawn  from  him  in  the  above  mentioned  letter  seem  to  indicate 
pretty  clearly  that  he  is  to  add  one  to  the  number  of  candidates 
for  the  Presidency.  He  will  be  a  thorn  in  the  side  of  Mr.  Van 
Buren,  whose  chances  will  be  more  affected  by  this  new  aspirant 
than  by  that  of  the  Southern  candidate.  *  *  *  It  is  pretty 
difficult  for  me  to  find  out  the  claims  of  General  Cass.  But  in 
that  respect  he  stands  about  on  a  par  with  General  Harrison 
at  the  time  of  his  nomination.  If  Mr.  Clay  cannot  be  elected 
I  do  not  know  that  I  shall  not  be  prepared  to  hurrah  for  Cass. 
Anybody  but  Calhoun,  even  Van  Buren.  I  am  a  Northern  man 
and  a  New  Yorker.  As  such  I  can  never  consent  to  be  ruled  by 
one  whose  paramount  principle  is  one  of  opposition  to  the  in- 
terests and  prosperity  of  this  part  of  the  Union.  Mr.  Calhoun 
has  talents  of  a  superior  order,  so  much  the  worse;  for  his 
enmity  is  the  more  effective. 

Mr.  Cass  now  became  Senator  from  Michigan.  This 
seat  he  occupied  in  1844  when  he  set  up  a  candidacy 
for  the  Democratic  Presidential  nomination.  The  con- 
vention assembled  at  Baltimore,  Maryland,  May 
27th.  Van  Buren,  who  had  been  beaten  by  William 
Henry  Harrison  in  1840,  was  regarded  as  most  likely 
to  capture  the  honor,  despite  his  defeat  and  the  fact 
that  his  previous  candidacy  had  split  the  party.  He 
had  secured  a  majority  of  delegates  by  instruction.  The 
convention  promptly  adopted  the  two  thirds  rule  ren- 
dering his  majority  impotent. 


102  Lewis  Cass 


On  the  first  ballot  Van  Buren  had  146  votes,  the  re- 
maining 120  were  scattered,  but  of  these  Cass  had 
the  largest  number — 83.  All  but  twelve  of  the  South- 
ern men  were  recorded  against  Van  Buren,  while  all 
but  twenty-three  from  the  North  were  behind  him.  His 
majority  dropped  to  a  plurality  on  the  second  ballot. 
By  the  time  the  fifth  was  polled  he  was  in  the  minority 
thirteen,  with  103  votes,  while  Cass  had  107.  On  the 
eighth  ballot  the  name  of  James  K.  Polk,  of  Ten- 
nessee, drew  44  votes.  On  the  ninth  Van  Buren  pulled 
out  and  Polk  was  unanimously  named — to  the  great 
surprise  of  the  country  at  large,  and  was  elected. 

Cass  supported  Polk  in  his  settlement  with  Mexico, 
and  kept  himself  to  the  fore  in  the  Senate.  Having 
made  a  brave  showing  in  the  convention  of  1844,  he 
became  a  foremost  figure  in  that  of  1848.  New  York 
had  become  a  disturbing  element.  Silas*  Wright,  who 
was  elected  Governor  in  1844  ran  away  ahead  of  Polk. 
This  was  credited  to  the  resentment  of  the  Van  Buren 
following.  The  result  was  the  presence  of  two  delega- 
tions from  that  state  when  the  convention  met  at  Bal- 
timore on  May  22nd.  It  was  suggested  that  the  fac- 
tions each  seat  half  their  number.  To  this  neither  would 
agree  and  both  sets  bolted  the  convention.  Cass,  James 
Buchanan  of  Pennsylvania  and  Levi  Woodbury,  of 
New  Hampshire  were  the  only  names  put  in  nomina- 
tion. Cass  led  from  the  first  ballot  and  on  the  fourth 
secured  the  needed  two-thirds.  General  W.  O.  Butler, 
of  Kentucky,  who  had  succeeded  Scott  in  command  at 
Mexico  after  his  recall,  was  named  for  Vice-President. 

The  platform  characterized  the  conflict  with  Mexico 
as  "a  just  and  necessary  war,"  endorsed  the  Polk  ad- 


Lewis  Cass  103 


ministration  and  condemned  its  critics.  An  effort  by 
William  L.  Yancey,  eminent  in  time  to  come  as  a  fire- 
eater,  to  secure  the  adoption  of  a  resolution  endorsing 
"non-interference  with  the  rights  and  property  of  any 
portion  of  the  people  of  this  confederation,  be  it  in 
the  states  or  territories  by  any  others  than  the  parties 
interested  therein"  failed  by  a  vote  of  36  to  216.  The 
convention  thus  set  its  face  against  what  developed 
later  as  "squatter  sovereignty."  The  vote  was,  how- 
ever, a  bit  of  dodging.  The  great  majority  did  not  want 
to  stir  up  the  slavery  question.  Cass  himself  favored 
the  doctrine  voiced  by  Yancey  and  later  adopted  by 
Stephen  A.  Douglas. 

When  Cass  became  a  candidate  Philip  Hone 
changed  his  tune.  "Shall  General  Cass  be  President?" 
he  asks  himself  on  Jan.  7,  1848.  "Never  if  I  can  pre- 
vent it.  His  principles  are  more  dangerous  than  those 
of  any  other  man  who  has  been  named  by  his  party 
as  their  candidate.  He  is  an  embodiment  of  political 
humbug  and  demogogism,  administering  to  the  worst 
part  of  the  community.  He  made  a  fool  of  himself 
as  Minister  to  France  by  writing  a  book  of  gossip 
about  the  King  and  court  and  since  his  return  has 
courted  the  populace  by  declaring  war  pretty  much 
against  all  'princes,  potentates  and  powers.'  The  an- 
nexation of  Texas  and  the  war  with  Mexico  received 
his  hearty  support  and  he  now  threatens  to  subjugate 
the  whole  of  the  American  continent." 

Taylor  was  no  campaigner.  Cass  was.  Aside  from 
military  qualities — and  these  were  freely  questioned — 
Taylor's  talents  were  not  known.  His  Whiggery,  if 
he  had  any,  was  of  recent  date.  His  party's  attitude 


104  Lewis  Cass 


toward  a  successful  war  was  not  helpful  and  hardly 
to  be  redeemed  by  selecting  one  of  the  heroes  to  head 
it.  On  the  other  hand,  however,  Martin  Van  Buren, 
once  President,  and  Jackson's  heir,  headed  a  Free-Soil 
ticket  that  was  a  factor  of  danger  and  the  Abolitionists 
showed  themselves  for  the  first  time  behind  James  G. 
Birney.  Birney  was  an  Alabamian  who  had  secured 
legislation  in  his  state  to  mitigate  the  condition  of 
the  slaves.  Visiting  the  free  states  he  became  convinced 
that  bondage  should  be  abolished  for  the  general  good 
and  removed  North  in  1834,  to  make  abolition  the 
work  of  his  life.  So  it  came  about  that  the  great  move- 
ment for  freedom  had  its  first  political  presence  made 
known  by  a  Jackson  Democrat  and  a  Southern  man. 
Cass  while  Minister  to  France  had  to  deal  with  a 
delicate  international  situation  affecting  the  slave 
trade.  As  a  result  of  the  War  of  18 12  the  right  to 
search  American  ships  at  sea  had  been  given  over  by 
England.  That  country,  in  suppressing  the  slave  trade, 
joined  with  France,  Austria,  Prussia  and  Russia,  in  a 
"quintuple  treaty"  by  which  each  nation  permitted 
visits  to  its  vessels  by  naval  officers,  seeking  slaves. 
The  stars  and  stripes  flew  over  many  vessels  engaged 
in  the  illicit  trade,  but  we  declined  to  yield  the  con- 
cession of  search.  The  difficulty  was  solved  after  a 
fashion  in  the  Ashburton  Treaty  of  1842,  when  the 
United  States  agreed  to  join  in  the  hunt,  and  so  pre- 
sumably would  look  after  its  own  vessels.  The  efforts 
to  keep  free  soil  and  abolition  out  of  the  canvass  were, 
as  noted  unavailing,  though  they  did  not  get  into  it 
very  deeply  as  issues.  Birney  had  but  75,000  votes,  but 
Van  Buren  out  to  beat  Cass,  did  it.  The  campaign  was 


Photograph   by   Herbert  Photos.,    Inc. 

LEWIS    CASS 


Lewis  Cass  105 


not  exciting,  outside  of  New  York.  There,  however, 
Van  Buren  had  120,000  to  114,000  for  Cass.  Taylor's 
total  was  218,000  in  the  State.  This  gave  him  its 
electors.  Cass  also  lost  Pennsylvania,  the  recently 
enacted  Walker  Tariff  disgruntling  that  fortress  of 
protection.  Taylor  ran  ahead  of  Cass  139,557  on  the 
popular  vote  and  had  a  majority  of  36  in  the  electoral 
college.  Either  New  York  or  Pennsylvania  would  have 
saved  Cass.  Eight  free  and  seven  slave  states  voted 
for  him,  while  eight  slave  and  seven  free  states  sup- 
ported Taylor.  Sectionalism  was  not  yet  on  top.  The 
wedge  of  separatism  showed  itself  in  Congress  where 
thirteen  Free-Soil  representatives  held  the  balance  of 
power  between  112  Democrats  and  105  Whigs.  The 
Senate  was  left  Democratic  by  ten  majority. 

After  his  defeat  Cass  continued  in  the  Senate 
favoring  the  compromise  of  1850  and  its  attendant 
evils.  "I  believe  the  law  will  be  executed,"  he  said, 
"wherever  the  flag  of  the  Union  waves.  *  *  *  A 
wonderful  change  in  public  sentiment  has  taken  place. 
It  is  going  on  and  will  go  onward  until  the  great  ob- 
ject is  accomplished.  We  see  it  in  the  North,  we  see  it 
in  the  West,  and  all  around  us.  We  cannot  mistake  it." 
But  he  could  and  did,  though  there  was  ample  excuse 
for  the  error. 

The  Democratic  Convention,  which  met  at  Balti- 
more on  June  1,  1852,  opened  with  a  determined  effort 
to  give  Cass  another  try  at  the  Presidency.  He  re- 
ceived on  the  first  ballot  one  hundred  and  sixteen 
votes  against  ninety-three  for  James  Buchanan,  twenty- 
seven  for  William  L.  Marcy  and  twenty  for  Stephen 
A.  Douglas.  A  prolonged  contest  followed  that  ended 


io6  Lewis  Cass 


on  the  fifth  day  in  the  defeat  of  all  four,  and  the  selec- 
tion of  Franklin  Pierce  of  New  Hampshire.  William 
R.  King  of  Louisiana  was  named  nominee  for  Vice- 
President. 

When  James  Buchanan  became  President,  March  4, 
1857,  he  made  Cass  his  Secretary  of  State.  Much 
water  had  gone  over  the  dam  since  1848.  Two  ad- 
ministrations had  weathered  the  storms  of  the  Anti- 
Slavery  agitation,  and  Buchanan's  victory  was  wel- 
comed with  a  sigh  of  relief.  The  radicals  had  again 
been  badly  beaten  and  it  looked  as  if  the  country  could 
sleep  safely  under  the  Constitution.  Cass  had  sup- 
ported the  compromise  of  1850,  in  his  desire  to  allay 
the  Free-Soil  and  Abolitionist  sentiment  which  he 
foresaw  would  endanger  the  Union.  Taking  middle 
ground,  neither  side  liked  him,  and  he  won  the  epithet 
of  being  the  biggest  "Dough-face"  in  politics,  that 
being  the  gentle  term  applied  to  compromisers  by  the 
radical  element  in  the  North. 

The  attempt  of  William  Walker,  the  filibuster,  to 
aggrandize  Nicaragua  gave  the  Secretary  of  State 
a  problem  to  deal  with  that  was  bothersome.  He  had 
made  a  treaty  with  Nicaragua  which  authorized  the 
United  States  to  keep  a  proposed  canal  route  open. 
It  was  used  as  a  part  of  the  road  to  California. 
Walker  interrupted  it  and  had  to  be  pulled  off.  There 
was  much  sympathy  for  the  adventurer  in  the  South 
and  this  made  the  situation  delicate  to  deal  with. 
Honduras,  not  liking  the  gringos  gave  some  rights  to 
England  that  were  in  our  way.  Cass  was  dull  in  deal- 
ing with  the  questions  involved.  He  was  seventy-five 
years  old  and  had  done  his  share.  Buchanan  wanted 


Lewis  Cass  107 


to  buy  Cuba  as  an  outlet  for  slave  pressure  but  could 
not  get  the  $30,000,000  he  needed  from  Congress. 
Paraguay  insulted  us  and  was  made  to  apologize.  He 
also  wanted  to  meddle  in  Mexico,  but  Congress  failed 
to  see  in  it  anything  beyond  more  reaching  out  by  the 
slave  power  which  Buchanan  vainly  tried  to  pacify. 
Cass  dealt  ably  with  China  in  making  a  Treaty,  which 
was  nearly  upset  by  Commodore  Tatnall's  going  to 
the  rescue  of  the  beaten  British  in  the  Pei-ho  river. 
The  British  in  1857-58  became  aggressive  search- 
ing American  vessels  willy-nilly.  Cass's  protests  were 
backed  up  by  the  Navy  department  ordering  war- 
ships to  Cuban  waters  to  see  that  none  were  molested. 
The  British  Minister  at  Washington  promptly  acceded 
to  the  demand  that  the  practice  stop.  Negotiations 
were  undertaken  to  develop  a  plan  that  would  curb 
Cuban  slavery  but  nothing  came  of  it.  Slave  trading 
was  near  its  end,  but  in  quite  another  fashion,  though 
the  daring  of  the  slavers  was  to  continue  briefly.  Blacks 
were  continually  landed  in  gulf  ports  either  direct  or 
from  Cuba.  So  late  as  1859  a  slave  cargo  was  landed 
on  Jekyl  Island,  Georgia,  and  in  1862,  Captain  Na- 
thaniel Gordon,  master  of  the  ship  Erie,  was  hanged 
in  the  New  York  Tombs  for  violating  the  law  making 
slave  transportation  a  capital  offense,  passed  by  Con- 
gress in  1820.  He  was  the  only  man  ever  so  punished — 
and  both  he  and  his  ship  hailed  from  Portland,  Maine ! 
Cass  fell  naturally  into  harmony  with  the  "squatter 
sovereignty"  ideas  of  Douglas,  which  was  not 
Buchanan's  view  at  all.  He  stuck  to  the  Constitution 
as  the  sole  safeguard  of  the  nation,  as  it  would  have 
been  had  the  nation  paid  any  attention  to  it,  which 


io8  Lewis  Cass 


it  did  not  save  for  a  very  few,  who  ranked  as  the 
rankest  kind  of  pro-slaveryites.  Thus  it  was  that  Cass, 
firm  for  the  Union  was  powerless  in  the  crisis  that  de- 
veloped after  the  election  in  i860.  He  had  support  in 
the  Cabinet  only  from  Attorney  General  J.  S.  Black 
and  Postmaster  General  Joseph  Holt.  It  was  his  de- 
sire to  awe  Charleston  with  a  heavy  force,  but  could 
not  get  it  done,  by  the  recalcitrant  Secretary  of  War 
J.  B.  Floyd.  Nor  would  Isaac  Toucey,  Secretary  of 
the  Navy,  act.  Buchanan  could  not  be  moved  to  go 
over  their  heads.  Cass  quoted  Andrew  Jackson  in  vain 
to  Buchanan.  He  went  on  record  publicly.  "I  speak  to 
Cobb"  he  is  quoted  as  saying  "and  he  tells  me  he  is  a 
Georgian,  to  Floyd  and  he  tells  me  he  is  a  Virginian, 
to  you  (W.  H.  Trescot),  and  you  tell  me  you  are  a 
Carolinian.  I  am  not  a  Michigander :  I  am  a  citizen  of 
the  United  States.  The  laws  of  the  United  States  bind 
you,  as  they  bind  me,  individually;  if  you  the  citi- 
zens of  Georgia,  or  Virginia,  or  Carolina  refuse  obe- 
dience to  them,  it  is  my  sworn  duty  to  enforce  them." 
Holding  these  sentiments  and  receiving  no  support 
for  them  from  the  President  he  notified  Mr.  Buchanan 
on  December  11,  i860,  of  his  purpose  to  resign.  He 
gave  his  reasons  boldly.  They  included  the  President's 
unwillingness  to  garrison  the  Charleston  forts  and 
collect  the  revenues,  under  guard  of  a  man  of  war. 
So  it  was  that  while  the  Southern  members  left  the 
cabinet  because  their  states  had  forsaken  the  Union, 
Cass  got  out  because  he  thought  the  Union  was  being 
abandoned  by  its  sworn  head.  Believing  the  cabinet  full 
of  traitors  and  Buchanan  helpless,  on  December  21, 
i860,  convinced  that  all  he  wished  to  do  was  in  vain, 


Lewis  Cass  109 


the  Secretary  of  State  laid  down  his  office.  Buchanan 
feebly  put  the  responsibility  on  Floyd  and  Toucey  as 
"not  concurring  in  your  views"  when  he  accepted  the 
resignation. 

The  veteran  statesman  went  back  to  Detroit  firm 
for  the  Union  after  a  career  of  public  honor  such  as 
it  has  been  given  few  men  to  enjoy.  His  name  holds  a 
high  place  on  the  roll  of  those  who  deserve  well  of 
their  country.  Mr.  Cass  was  a  man  of  noble  physique, 
which  expanded  into  obesity.  He  was  conspicuous  in 
the  Senate  for  perspiring  freely  and  always  waving  a 
fan  in  warm  weather.  He  carried  his  idea  of  being  a 
citizen  of  the  United  States  to  the  limit  of  refusing 
to  be  called  a  "Michigander"  as  too  suggestive  of 
being  a  male  goose.  He  was  a  clear,  convincing  speaker 
in  his  ability  to  arrange  facts,  but  debate  confused  him 
and  he  was  not  apt  at  retort.  On  the  other  hand  he 
was  an  admirable  writer.  His  kindness  of  heart  was 
universally  commended.  No  man  could  be  more  helpful 
to  his  fellows  than  Lewis  Cass  tried  to  be. 


VI 
DANIEL  WEBSTER 


"THE    GOD-LIKE    DANIEL" 


DANIEL  WEBSTER  remains  the  finest  figure 
that  ever  sat  in  the  Senate  or  filled  the  high 
office  of  Secretary  of  State.  "Little  Black 
Dan"  they  called  him  in  Salisbury,  N.  H.,  where  he 
was  born  January  18,  1782.  Destiny  sent  him  early  to 
the  law.  His  forensic  ability  remains  unequaled  in 
this,  if  not  any  other  land.  He  won  his  first  case  against 
his  brother  Ezekiel,  who  also  became  an  eminent  at- 
torney. When  a  lad  at  Salisbury,  Ezekiel  had  caught 
a  woodchuck  and  was  about  to  kill  the  amiable  animal, 
whose  shiverings  aroused  Daniel's  compassion.  He 
pleaded  with  his  father  to  make  Ezekiel  release  the 
rodent.  Ebenezer  Webster,  his  parent,  was  a  man  of 
brains  and  humor.  He  set  himself  up  as  a  judge  and 
ordered  the  boys  to  argue  the  case.  This  they  did  with 
great  eloquence.  Daniel  outtalked  Ezekiel  and  Mister 
'Chuck  was  sent  happily  back  to  his  burrow. 

Salisbury  always  held  a  deep  place  in  Webster's 
heart.  Coming  back  to  Boston  after  a  hard  session  of 
the  Senate  he  found  a  delegation  from  his  home  town 
awaiting  him.  A  skillful  secretary  side-tracked  them, 
and  brought  word  that  Mr.  Webster  was  too  tired  to 
see  anybody.  The  delegates  were  insistent.  They  were 

no 


Daniel  Webster  in 

not  office  seekers  and  the  matter  of  their  mission  was 
one  of  the  utmost  importance.  So  Mr.  Webster  came 
downstairs  and  heard  them  in  the  hall.  Their  business 
was  indeed  important.  A  Salisbury  boy  had  been  ar- 
rested on  a  charge  of  murder.  The  evidence  was  cir- 
cumstantial but  so  conclusive  that  no  lawyer  of  lesser 
weight  than  Daniel  Webster  could  be  trusted  to  tear 
it  apart.  The  prisoner  was  popular  and  his  friends 
were  certain  of  his  innocence.  They  had  come  to  im- 
plore the  Senator  to  take  the  case. 

When  the  story  was  told  the  weary  Webster  rather 
brusquely  informed  the  committee  that  he  could  not 
assume  the  task,  and  with  this  curt  dismissal  he  turned 
away.  As  he  did  he  heard  the  Chairman  remark  half 
aloud:  "I  don't  know  what  the  neighbors  will  say 
to  this." 

"What's  that?"  queried  Webster,  turning  on  his 
heel:  "It's  the  neighbors,  is  it?"  Being  informed  that 
it  was,  he  took  the  retainer  and  acquitted  the  accused. 
It  was  not  in  him  to  fail  "the  neighbors"  of  Salisbury. 

The  Websters  were  of  the  best  grade  of  New  Eng- 
land Americans.  Major  Ebenezer  Webster  served 
under  Amherst  in  the  French  and  Indian  War,  was 
with  Stark  at  Bennington  and  saw  Burgoyne  surrender 
his  sword  at  Saratoga.  He  too,  was  a  lawyer  and  died 
a  Judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  in  New  Hamp- 
shire. Daniel  therefore  did  not  lack  background.  He 
was  well  tutored  for  College  at  Phillips  Academy, 
Exeter,  and  by  Dr.  Samuel  Wood  of  Boscawen,  en- 
tering Dartmouth  in  1797,  and  graduating  in  1801. 
He  stepped  to  the  front  as  an  orator  while  in  his 
classes,  and  expected  to  deliver  the  Latin  valedictory. 


H2  Daniel  Webster 

The  Faculty  ruled  otherwise,  preferring  him  to  exhibit 
his  talents  in  an  English  oration  or  by  the  composi- 
tion of  a  poem.  He  did  neither.  Hanover,  where  Dart- 
mouth is  located  gave  the  student  at  nineteen,  the 
honor  of  delivering  its  Fourth  of  July  oration.  After 
graduation  he  studied  law  with  Thomas  W.  Thompson 
an  attorney  of  distinction,  who  became  a  United  States 
Senator,  and  then  to  secure  funds  for  further  study 
taught  in  the  academy  at  Fryeburg,  Maine,  on  the 
New  Hampshire  border.  He  was  paid  $350  for  the 
year,  adding  thereto  by  acting  as  assistant  to  Samuel 
Osgood,  Registrar  of  Deeds  for  the  western  district 
of  Oxford  County.  They  still  show  his  handwriting  in 
the  old  records.  He  went  back  to  Thompson's  office 
in  Salisbury  for  two  years,  thence  to  Boston,  where 
he  qualified  for  the  bar  with  Christopher  Gore,  and 
was  admitted  in  1805.  He  first  tried  practicing  at 
Boscawen,  N.  H.,  then  went  to  Portsmouth  where  he 
prospered,  and  whence  he  was  sent  to  Congress  in 
1 8 13,  serving  two  terms.  In  18 16  he  removed  to 
Boston  and  thereafter  was  a  Massachusetts  man  in 
all  that  this  implies.  In  1823  he  went  again  to  Con- 
gress, where  a  speech  on  the  Greek  Revolution,  in 
which  a  Boston  man,  Dr.  Samuel  Gridley  Howe,  was 
serving,  spread  his  fame  as  an  orator.  June  17,  1825, 
he  made  the  oration  at  the  laying  of  the  cornerstone 
of  Bunker  Hill  monument.  In  1827  he  was  elected  to 
the  United  States  Senate  and  took  his  high  place  in 
American  affairs. 

Contemporaneous  with  Clay  and  Calhoun,  he  played 
in  many  ways  the  greater  part.  As  parties  shaped  up 
he  became  the  foremost  Whig  in  the  North. 


DANIEL    WEBSTER 


Daniel  Webster  113 

What  started  innocently  enough  in  a  discussion  on 
the  policy  dealing  with  public  lands  and  the  tariff 
ended  in  uncovering  the  South  Carolina  purpose  to 
nullify  laws  not  to  her  liking.  Robert  J.  Hayne  was  the 
spokesman  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate  and  Webster  re- 
plied for  the  North.  The  great  debate  began  on  Janu- 
ary 19th  and  ran  along  during  February  and  March, 
1830.  Hayne  laid  down  his  defense  of  state  rights  in 
no  uncertain  tone  and  Webster  was  equally  emphatic 
in  his  reply.  It  lives  as  one  of  the  masterpieces  of 
American  argument  and  oratory.  Hayne's  speeches 
were  of  no  small  caliber  and  accordingly  heightened 
the  merit  of  Webster's  response. 

It  is  said  he  had  not  thought  of  making  himself  the 
champion  of  the  national  idea,  but  it  came  to  him  in 
an  impulse  aroused  by  the  sudden  discernment  of 
South  Carolina's  purpose  as  revealed  by  Hayne.  At 
any  rate  he  rose  to  the  occasion  and  for  two  days 
poured  out  a  speech  that  still  echoes  and  lifted  him  to 
the  topmost  heights  of  forensic  fame.  The  issues  have 
long  since  been  washed  out  in  blood  but  the  halo  there 
earned  still  shines  around  Daniel  Webster's  noble 
brow.  His  voice  was  that  of  melody:  it  charmed  like 
the  harp  of  Orpheus.  He  usually  began  speaking  se- 
dately with  arms  folded  across  his  chest.  Then  as  the 
power  seized  him  he  would  accentuate  words  with  ges- 
tures. Where  Clay  was  elegant  and  ornate  in  speech 
Webster's  flowed  like  a  resistless  torrent  of  fact  and 
logic.  One  who  knew  him  well  has  thus  strikingly  de- 
scribed him : 

"Imagine  a  man  of  full  stature,  with  a  broad  chest, 
sinewy    limbs,    apparently    possessing    vast    physical 


114  Daniel  Webster 

strength,  and  you  will  form  a  general  idea  of  the 
outer-man  of  Daniel  Webster.  *  *  *  Such  a  head  and 
face  *  *  *  I  believe  has  scarcely  ever  before  or  since 
been  seen  on  human  shoulders.  The  cranium  was  large, 
well-shaped,  and  thinly  covered  with  dark  brown  hair, 
which  being  carelessly  thrown  back  in  front  revealed 
a  most  capacious  forehead.  This  forehead  bulged,  as 
it  were,  forward,  as  though  the  large  amount  of  brain 
within  had  pushed  forward  its  barrier  of  frontal  bone. 
That  the  cerebral  organ  was  of  unusual  size  and  ca- 
pacity was  proved  on  a  post-mortem  examination, 
when  it  was  found  that,  with  the  sole  exception  of 
Baron  Cuvier's,  Webster's  brain  was  the  largest  ever 
known.  At  the  base  of  this  domed  palace  of  the  soul 
were  a  pair  of  dark,  bushy  brows,  that  over-shadowed 
the  most  singular  eyes  I  ever  beheld.  These  were  dark, 
large  and  so  deeply  set  as  to  literally  glow  in  their  cav- 
ernous recesses.  They  did  not  flash,  excepting  in  mo- 
ments of  great  excitement,  and  then  their  lustre  was 
amazing;  but  their  steady,  awful  glow  was  what  ren- 
dered them  so  remarkable. " 

His  umouth  was  stern  and  large"  but  his  nose  "was 
out  of  character  with  the  rest  of  his  face."  The  "chin 
was  large,  and  its  lower  part  was  concealed  in  the  angu- 
lar folds  of  a  white  cravat  over  which  drooped  a  col- 
lar." A  swarthy  tinted  skin"  added  to  "the  sombre 
majesty"  of  the  statesman's  countenance.  Indeed  his 
appearance  warranted  the  term  "majestic."  He  was 
"God-like"  as  they  called  him  after  the  reply  to 
Hayne.  Sydney  Smith  thought  him  "a  steam  engine  in 
trousers"  and  wondered  if  any  man  could  be  as  great 
as  Webster  looked.  His  invariable  costume  was  a  blue 


Daniel  Webster 115 

coat  with  brass  buttons,  a  buff  vest  and  black  panta- 
loons. 

Men  of  intellect  and  fortune  sought  his  presence. 
He  often  appeared  in  the  select  circle  whose  doings 
Philip  Hone,  Mayor  of  New  York,  chronicled  in  his 
diary.  When  he  visited  the  metropolis  throngs  fol- 
lowed him  and  thousands  packed  the  docks  to  witness 
his  departure  by  steamer  to  Boston.  New  York  did  its 
best  to  secure  him  the  presidential  nomination  in 
1836.  Eleven  hundred  signatures  adorned  a  call  for 
a  meeting  at  Masonic  Hall,  Friday  evening,  December 
4,  1835,  at  which  his  name  was  formally  presented  to 
the  country.  On  March  26,  1836,  the  Massachusetts 
legislature  resolved  itself  into  a  convention  and  nomi- 
nated Mr.  Webster  for  the  presidency.  At  this  a  letter 
was  read  from  the  Senator  expressing  both  a  willing- 
ness to  retire  from  the  contest,  or  to  stand  by  his 
friends  "whether  in  minorities  or  majorities,  in  pros- 
perous or  adverse  fortune." 

The  Whig  party  was  not  yet  hammered  into  cognate 
shape,  with  the  result  that  three  Whig  candidates 
sought  suffrage  against  Martin  Van  Buren  who  had 
been  jammed  down  the  throats  of  the  Democracy  by 
the  determined  Jackson.  These  were  William  Henry 
Harrison,  of  Ohio,  who  had  the  largest  following, 
Hugh  L.  White,  of  Tennessee,  whom  Benton  called 
the  representative  of  a  fragment  of  Democracy,  and 
in  a  way  Webster,  who  only  received  the  fourteen  elec- 
toral votes  of  Massachusetts.  Harrison  got  seventy- 
three  electors  and  White  twenty-six.  South  Carolina 
gave  her  votes  to  her  senator  William  P.  Magum. 
Thus  the  country  flouted  its  greatest  statesman. 


n6  Daniel  Webster 

Disgusted  with  his  treatment  Webster  contemplated 
leaving  the  Senate,  but  was  dissuaded  by  his  New  York 
friends,  who  gave  him  a  great  reception,  at  Niblo's 
Saloon  on  March  5,  1837,  on  the  heels  of  Van  Bu- 
ren's  inauguration,  at  which  some  boys  knocked  over 
an  old  stove  in  the  rear  of  the  crowded  hall  and 
started  a  panic  which  Webster  stopped  with:  ''Noth- 
ing has  broken,  my  friends,  but  your  patience  and  the 
thread  of  my  argument." 

Webster,  with  his  wife  then  made  a  tour  of  the 
country,  looking  again  toward  the  Presidency.  He  was 
everywhere  received  with  acclaim,  including  Nashville, 
Jackson's  home  town,  to  which  the  General  had  just 
returned.  In  1839  he  visited  England  and  was  re- 
ceived with  almost  royal  honors.  Returning,  he  took 
an  effective  part  in  the  campaign  that  was  to  elect  Wil- 
liam Henry  Harrison  and  make  him  Secretary  of 
State.  He  was  called  upon  to  revise  that  gentleman's 
inaugural  address  which  was  overloaded  with  classi- 
cal allusions,  so  much  so  that  Mr.  Webster  after- 
wards declared  he  "had  killed  twenty  Roman  pro- 
consuls" in  the  process  of  rendering  it  less  ponderous. 
The  death  of  Harrison  and  the  coming  of  Tyler  to 
the  Presidency  brought  political  confusion.  Wide  apart 
as  they  were  Webster  concluded  to  remain  in  the 
Cabinet.  This  action  hurt  him  greatly  with  the  extreme 
Whigs  and  he  was  left  much  upon  the  defensive.  He 
settled  the  Maine  boundary  dispute  with  Lord  Ash- 
burton,  came  to  an  agreement  about  Oregon  which  the 
British  rejected,  and  then  weary  of  friction  retired 
from  his  office.  The  precipitating  cause  was  the  dis- 


Daniel  Webster  117 

covery  that  President  Tyler  had  been  negotiating  in 
secret  for  the  annexation  of  Texas.  He  laid  down  the 
portfolio,  May  8,  1843. 

Massachusetts  speedily  returned  him  to  the  Senate. 
He  was  there  in  opposition  to  the  Mexican  War  when 
it  came  brewing.  Like  Clay,  the  conflict  cost  him  a 
son,  Edward  Webster,  who  died  a  major  in  Mexico, 
victim  of  tropical  fever.  In  1847  he  made  another 
tour  South  looking  for  the  Presidential  nomination  in 
1848.  He  was  again  received  with  a  cordiality  that 
failed  to  congeal  into  delegates.  Richmond  and 
Charleston  gave  him  public  dinners  and  he  was  made 
much  of.  Colonel  Hayne,  his  old  antagonist  made  an 
eloquent  address  of  welcome.  He  came  back  to  vote 
against  the  Treaty  with  Mexico  which  Polk  had  al- 
most privately  consummated. 

The  Whigs  met  in  convention  at  Philadelphia  on 
June  7,  1848,  to  nominate  a  Presidential  ticket.  It 
should  have  been  Webster's  turn.  Clay  had  twice  tried 
only  to  meet  with  defeat.  Yet  he  received  97  votes  on 
the  third  ballot  to  but  22  for  Mr.  Webster,  and  11 1 
for  Zachary  Taylor,  who  was  nominated  on  the  fourth 
ballot.  It  seems  amazing  that  so  distinguished  a  man 
should  fare  so  badly.  The  convention,  had,  however 
picked  a  winner  which  would  probably  not  have  been 
the  case  had  it  named  Webster.  He  was  opposed  not 
only  to  the  extension  of  slavery  but  regarded  its  ex- 
istence as  an  unmitigated  evil,  and  believed  the  effort 
to  choke  the  abolition  movement  was  only  tending  to 
increase  its  strength  for  an  explosion.  When  Congress 
came   together  in   December,    1848,    Polk's   message 


Ii8  Daniel  Webster 

asked  for  the  creation  of  territorial  governments  in 
New  Mexico  and  Utah.  Here  Webster  demolished  a 
string  of  Calhoun's  sophisms.  Nothing  was  done  and 
the  problem  was  left  to  the  new  Congress. 

The  outcome  of  the  territorial  situation  was  the 
compromise  of  1850,  which  has  been  fully  credited  to 
Clay,  while  Calhoun's  part  has  been  described.  Here 
Clay  and  Webster  who  had  so  long  figured  in  the  arena 
were  together  for  the  last  time.  On  March  7,  1850, 
after  Calhoun's  final  utterances  were  read,  Webster 
declared  himself  on  the  subject. 

"The  imprisoned  winds  are  loose"  he  said  in  his 
opening.  "The  East,  the  North  and  the  Stormy  South 
combine  to  throw  the  whole  sea  into  commotion,  to 
toss  its  billows  to  the  skies  and  disclose  its  profoundest 
depths."  Because  a  portion  of  the  territory  acquired 
by  the  war  of  acquisition,  as  he  termed  that  with  Mex- 
ico, had  a  warm  climate,  it  was  natural  that  the  South 
turned  to  it  as  its  possession.  He  then  gave  a  luminous 
outline  of  slavery  in  all  its  phases  as  it  had  affected  the 
nation.  It  was  repugnant  to  the  framers  of  the  Consti- 
tution. He  opposed  its  introduction  into  California 
and  New  Mexico.  Both  to  his  mind  were  destined  to 
be  free,  mainly  because  they  afforded  no  profitable  op- 
portunity for  slave  labor.  "I  am  ready"  he  declared  "to 
assert  the  principle  of  the  exclusion  of  slavery."  But 
he  also  thought  the  complaints  of  the  South  concern- 
ing the  non-rendition  of  fugitive  slaves  were  just  and 
deserved  a  remedy.  Senator  J.  M.  Mason,  of  Virginia, 
had  introduced  an  act  to  that  effect  which  Webster  ac- 
cepted with  some  minor  amendments,  thus  flying  in  the 


Daniel  Webster  119 

face  of  the  abolition  societies  that  were  strongest  in  his 
own  state.  He  went  so  far  as  to  denounce  these  as  use- 
less. "I  think  their  operations  for  the  last  twenty  years 
have  produced  nothing  good  or  valuable, "  was  his 
estimate  of  their  accomplishments.  He  noted  the  vio- 
lence of  the  Northern  press  but  found  that  of  the 
South  even  more  truculent,  yet  could  discover  "no 
solid  grievance  presented  by  the  South  within  the  re- 
dress of  the  government,"  aside  from  "a  proper  re- 
gard to  the  injunction  of  the  constitution  for  the  de- 
livery of  fugitive  slaves."  His  speech  lost  him  caste  in 
the  North.  He  was  regarded  as  bidding  for  the  Presi- 
dency. Massachusetts  loathed  him.  Resolutions  de- 
nouncing him  were  adopted  at  a  mass  meeting  held  in 
Faneuil  Hall,  after  Theodore  Parker  had  declared: 
"I  know  no  deed  in  American  history  by  a  son  of  New 
England  to  which  I  can  compare  this  but  the  act  of 
Benedict  Arnold."  When  Webster's  friends  asked  for 
the  use  of  the  hall  for  the  purpose  of  giving  him  a 
hearing  the  corporation  of  Boston  refused  the  request. 
"Where  am  I  to  go?"  asked  the  bewildered  statesman. 
"To  the  devil"  was  the  most  common  reply.  The  New 
York  Tribune  declared  he  could  not  expect  a  single 
Whig  vote  in  the  next  National  Convention.  His  ad- 
miring friend  the  editor  of  the  Boston  Atlas  repre- 
hended him  severely.  The  Church  leaders  of  the  North 
were  almost  unanimous  against  him.  John  Greenleaf 
Whittier,  the  Quaker  poet,  of  Amesbury,  wrote  "Icha- 
bod."  It  became  a  favorite  rune  with  the  Abolitionists 
and  was  read  aloud  at  many  meetings.  Here  are  some 
of  its  stinging  stanzas: 


120  Daniel  Webster 

So  fallen!  So  lost!  The  light  withdrawn 

Which  once  he  wore! 
The  glory  from  his  gray  hairs  gone 

Forevermore ! 
Revile  him  not,  the  Tempter  hath 

A  snare  for  all! 
And  pitying  tears,  not  scorned  wrath 

Befit  his  fall! 


All  else  is  gone;  from  those  great  eyes 

The  soul  has  fled: 
When  faith  is  lost,  when  honor  dies, 

The  man  is  dead! 
Then  pay  the  reverence  of  old  days 

To  his  dead  fame  ; 
Walk   backward  with   averted  gaze, 

And  hide  the  shame! 

Webster  was  stunned.  He  had  considered  the  ebulli- 
tions of  anti-slavery  as  mere  local  outbursts.  To  find 
the  whole  state  and  the  Whig  press  against  him  was 
crushing.  The  speech  was  commended  in  the  South. 
Even  Calhoun  approved  of  it  in  his  last  moments.  The 
death  of  President  Taylor  caused  a  reorganization  of 
the  Cabinet  and  President  Fillmore  made  Webster 
Secretary  of  State,  which  took  him  out  of  the  turmoil. 
The  compromise  had  a  good  effect  outside  of  Massa- 
chusetts and  the  country  cheered  up.  But  Webster  ap- 
proached the  next  try  for  the  Whig  nomination  as 
Theodore  Parker  declared  "a  bankrupt  politican  in 
desperate  political  circumstances,  yearning  for  the 
Presidency." 


RETIRING     GRACEFULLY. 

THE  MILL-BOY.— WELL,  DAN,  I  THINK  THE  WAY  IS  CLEAR  NOW  FOR  THE  VETERAN  OF  MONTEREY 
AND  BUENA  VISTA.  I  DON'T  SEE  THAT  THE  INTERESTS  OF  THE  COUNTRY  DEMAND  THAT  I  SHOULD 
BE  DEFEATED  A  FOURTH  TIME. 

THF  GOD-LIKE.— TO  TELL  YOU  THE  TRUTH,  SO  THAT-  YOU  DON'T  RUN.  I'M  SATISFIED  TO  POSTPONE 
MY  SOUTHERN  TOUR.     SO  THEN.  LET'S  HURRA  FOR  OLD  ROUGH  AND   READY! 


CLAY    AND    WEBSTER 

An  unusually  interesting  cartoon  showing  these  two  loaders  in  conference. 
From   Yankee  Doodle,  May  1,  1847 


Daniel  Webster  121 

He  had  been  kept  pretty  busy  as  Secretary  of  State. 
The  Clayton-Bulwer  Treaty  affecting  the  Isthmus  and 
the  Lopez  expedition  to  Cuba  gave  him  much  to  do, 
which  as  was  his  wont  he  accomplished  ably. 

The  Whig  convention  met  at  Baltimore  June  16, 
1852.  Franklin  Pierce  had  already  been  named  by  the 
Democrats,  on  his  Mexican  war  record.  It  was  a  gath- 
ering from  which  ordinarily  Webster  could  have  ex- 
pected much.  His  friend  Rufus  Choate  was  there.  So 
was  William  Pitt  Fessenden,  of  Maine;  John  Sherman, 
of  Ohio;  Henry  L.  Dawes,  of  Massachusetts;  William 
M.  Evarts,  of  New  York;  E.  D.  Baker,  of  Illinois; 
William  L.  Dayton  of  New  Jersey;  and  John  M.  Clay- 
ton of  Delaware,  most  of  whom  were  soon  to  be  siz- 
able figures  in  the  new  Republican  party.  Millard 
Fillmore  was  a  candidate  for  renomination,  while  Web- 
ster came,  as  James  Ford  Rhodes  writes  it,  to  demand 
the  nomination  as  a  right  rather  than  "to  be  begged 
for."  Least  likely  to  win  of  all  was  Lieutenant  General 
Winfield  Scott,  conqueror  of  Mexico,  and  of  all  the 
men  in  sight  the  least  fitted  for  the  honor. 

Fillmore  had  not  hesitated  to  enforce  the  fugitive 
slave  law,  or  to  use  patronage  in  collecting  delegates 
of  which  he  had  a  good  supply,  mainly  from  the  South. 
Henry  Clay  had  endorsed  him  from  the  edge  of  the 
grave.  After  three  days  of  endeavor  a  platform  was 
constructed  which  met  the  views  of  the  South,  Web- 
ster and  his  supporters.  It  "received  and  acquiesced" 
in  the  fugitive  slave  law  and  insisted  on  its  strict  en- 
forcement. Rufus  Choate  was  spokesman  for  the  reso- 
lution, endorsing  it,  even  though  he  came  from  Boston. 
He  thanked  God  for  the  courage   (that  of  Webster 


122  Daniel  Webster 

and  Clay)  that  had  brought  about  the  compromise.  He 
was  surpassingly  eloquent  and  earned  loud  applause, 
which  was  not  joined  in  by  John  Minor  Botts,  of  Vir- 
ginia, who  had  the  Scott  boom  in  custody.  He  reproved 
Choate  for  exalting  Webster  instead  of  advocating  the 
platform  which  the  clever  orator  used  as  an  excuse  for 
giving  Webster  another  boost  to  win:  "What  a  reputa- 
tion that  must  be,  what  a  patriotism  that  must  be,  what 
a  long  and  brilliant  series  of  public  services  that  must 
be,  when  you  cannot  mention  a  measure  of  utility  like 
this  but  every  eye  spontaneously  turns  to,  and  every 
voice,  spontaneously  utters,  that  great  name  of  Daniel 
Webster." 

One  Ohio  man  made  a  speech  against  the  resolution 
but  it  passed  237  to  66.  The  66  were  Scott  men  from 
the  North.  The  shrewd  influence  of  William  H.  Se- 
ward was  behind  Scott  as  well  as  this  group  of  dele- 
gates. He  and  Fillmore  were  at  odds  in  New  York. 
When  nominations  became  in  order,  Webster,  Fill- 
more and  Scott  were  named.  The  first  roll  call  brought 
Webster  but  a  pitiful  29  votes.  Fillmore  had  133; 
Scott  131,  though  no  one  knew  how  he  stood  on  the 
fugitive  slave  law.  In  truth  they  all  wished  to  put  it 
out  of  the  picture.  Fillmore  had  enforced  it  and  Web- 
ster had  aided  its  passage.  The  balloting  went  on  tedi- 
ously with  little  change  until  fifty  ballots  had  been 
taken.  Then  the  South  sidled  toward  Scott.  Webster's 
best  total  had  been  31.  On  the  fifty-third  ballot  Scott 
stood  159,  Fillmore  112.  The  big  General  had  carried 
off  the  prize  and  the  greatest  American  of  his  day  was 
a  very  bad  third.  His  "right"  had  been  ruthlessly  ig- 
nored. The  convention  was  hunting  a  winner.  It  had 


Daniel  Webster 123 

won  with  one  general  and  thought  it  could  do  so  with 
another.  Fillmore  and  Webster  were  friends.  The 
President  had  written  a  letter  to  be  presented  at  the 
proper  moment  withdrawing  his  name,  in  the  hope  of 
saving  Webster  if  he  could  not  win  himself.  The  letter 
was  withheld.  Important  men  from  the  South  like 
Robert  Toombs  and  Alexander  H.  Stephens  did  their 
best  for  Webster.  They  truly  thought  a  break  would 
nominate  him  as  they  counted  on  106  votes  from  the 
South.  Seward  really  sealed  his  doom  by  holding  the 
New  York  delegation  solid  for  Scott.  Webster  him- 
self had  framed  and  polished  the  platform.  In  this 
mean  fashion  the  God-like  Daniel  departed  from  pub- 
lic life.  William  A.  Graham,  of  North  Carolina,  Fill- 
more's secretary  of  the  Navy  was  nominated  for  Vice- 
President. 

Webster  was  named  for  President  by  a  Union  Con- 
vention held  in  Georgia  and  by  some  New  Jersey  "Na- 
tional Americans"  at  Trenton.  Massachusetts  also  se- 
lected a  set  of  Webster  electors.  To  all  these  he  paid 
no  attention.  There  was  a  revulsion  in  Massachusetts. 
On  July  9,  1 85 1,  he  was  given  a  great  welcome  in  Bos- 
ton and  made  a  tactful,  gracious  address  in  apprecia- 
tion. "Massachusetts,  There  she  stands"  has  become 
the  state's  motto.  He  did  not  live  to  see  his  party's 
defeat  and  extinction.  Like  Clay  he  was  to  depart 
before  the  day  of  disaster.  In  September,  1852,  feeble 
and  without  spirit  he  retired  to  Marshfield,  his  Mass- 
achusetts estate,  where  he  awaited  dissolution  with 
dignity  and  decorum.  Sunday,  October  24th,  the  end 
came  gently,  "I  shall  die  tonight,"  he  told  his  physician 
the  day  before.  uYou  are  right,  sir/'  was  the  response. 


124  Daniel  Webster 

At  a  little  past  midnight  he  slipped  away,  his  last  whis- 
per being,  "I  still  live." 

They  carried  him  to  the  quiet  acre  in  Marshfield 
without  the  parade  that  had  followed  Clay  to  his  rest. 
But  the  country  tolled  its  bells  and  men  everywhere 
knew  a  giant  had  fallen. 


Photograph  by  Metropolitan  Museum   of  Art 

WINFIELD    SCOTT 
From   a    painting-  by   R.    W.   Weir 


VII 
WINFIELD  SCOTT 


WHAT  sort  of  personage  was  it  who  could  put 
to  rout  a  President  firmly  installed  in  of- 
fice and  shut  out  the  greatest  orator  and 
statesman  the  country  ever  produced?  Picture  to  your- 
self a  mountain  of  a  man,  six  feet  four  inches  tall,  in 
his  stocking  feet,  with  shoulders  half  as  broad,  bearing 
enormous  epaulets  of  gold  tinsel,  and  further  enlarged 
to  circus-giant  size  by  high-heeled  boots  and  a  huge 
cocked  hat  surmounted  by  a  towering  mass  of  waving 
plumes  and  you  have  Lieutenant-General  Winfield 
Scott,  commander-in-chief  of  the  United  States  army 
from  1841  to  1861. 

He  took  proper  pride  in  his  majestic  proportions 
and  was  accounted  handsome  even  if  the  spiteful  Myra 
Clark  Gaines,  wife  of  an  envious  fellow-general,  Ed- 
mund P.  Gaines,  once  declared  that  his  pursed  up  lips 
could  ube  covered  with  a  button. "  The  mouth  was  cer- 
tainly small  in  so  vast  a  face  and  outside  of  eating  he 
did  not  know  how  to  use  it — or  rather  his  tongue. 
That  unruly  member  often  made  him  ridiculous.  On 
the  side  of  feeding  himself  the  mouth  did  better.  He 
had  gustatory  talent  of  an  unusual  character  and  knew 
how  to  cook  as  well  as  how  to  fight — and  in  the  latter 

12s 


126  Winfield  Scott 


quality  he  ranked  superior  from  Lundy's  Lane  to 
Chapultepec.  He  would  often  don  an  apron  and  take 
a  turn  in  the  kitchen  to  bring  out  the  perfect  flavor  of 
a  Virginia  ham,  a  wild  turkey  or  choice  oysters  from 
some  special  Chesapeake  Bay  creek.  Moreover  he 
could  cook  a  canvas-back  duck  to  perfection,  stew  ter- 
rapin into  a  dish  of  delight  and  roast  a  haunch  of  ven- 
ison admirably.  He  was,  too,  an  expert  at  compounding 
salad  and  would  objurgate  the  guest  who  cut  his  let- 
tuce instead  of  breaking  it.  Beyond  all  he  had  mastered 
the  art  of  making  bread.  Also  he  was  a  judge  of  vint- 
ages and  liked  soup. 

The  two  last  named  tastes  injured  what  was  in 
most  respects  a  reputation  nearly  as  majestic  as  his 
person.  The  use  of  wine  was  regarded  by  the  majority 
of  his  democratic  fellow  citizens  as  an  aristocratic 
habit  affected  by  kings  and  dukes.  It  was  sternly 
frowned  upon,  while  corn  whisky  such  as  Henry  Clay 
drank  was  considered  au  fait.  They  disapproved  of 
Daniel  Webster's  brandy,  even  though  attractively 
served  in  juleps.  Soup  was  a  specialty  of  the  despised, 
frog-eating  French  and  in  no  respect  could  be  called 
lit  for  real  men,  such  as  all  true  Americans,  were. 

However,  his  little  dinners  were  delectable.  He  was 
justly  proud  of  his  culinary  accomplishments.  Add  to 
this  his  repute  as  a  successful  soldier,  with  knowledge 
of  affairs,  civil  as  well  as  miltiary,  a  character  without 
blemish,  a  kindly  attitude  toward  all  men  and  women. 
He  also  possessed  a  blunt  frankness  that  gave  him  a 
reputation  for  indiscretion.  This  he  deserved,  but 
amply  offset  it  by  his  truthfulness  and  honesty.  It  will 
be  seen  that  he  was  a  personage  as  well  as  a  Whig  who 


Winfield  Scott  127 

was  distinguished  enough  to  sit  Clay  and  Webster  on 
his  right  and  left  hand. 

Scott  was  a  Virginian,  born  in  Dinwiddie  County, 
near  Fredericksburg,  June  13,  1785,  and  properly 
proud  of  the  fact,  though  he  never  allowed  regard  for 
the  Commonwealth  to  get  ahead  of  his  affection  for 
the  United  States.  He  became  a  student  at  the  College 
of  William  and  Mary  at  Williamsburg,  then  the  in- 
tellectual center  of  the  South.  Taking  on  the  study  of 
law,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1806,  and  did  some 
practicing.  His  was  a  military,  not  a  legal  mind,  and 
his  love  of  arms  with  its  incidental  splendor  led  him 
into  the  regular  service,  becoming  a  captain  of  field 
artillery,  in  1808.  He  had  been  stirred  into  this  step  by 
the  attack  of  the  British  frigate  Leopard  on  our  Chesa- 
peake which  put  shame  upon  the  navy  and  set  the  land 
aflame  with  resentment.  The  little  army  was  spruced 
up  for  the  inevitable  conflict  with  Britain.  Thus  room 
was  found  toward  the  top  for  the  handsome  young 
giant.  He  had  only  four  years  to  wait  before  hostili- 
ties were  declared  on  the  part  of  the  United  States, 
weak  alike  on  land  and  sea,  but  very  valiant,  and  de- 
termined to  assert  its  rights. 

The  naval  record  of  the  war  shines  with  glory;  that 
on  land  was  dimmed  by  defeat.  Washington  was 
raided,  the  Capitol  and  White  House  burned,  but  the 
chief  fighting  was  along  the  Canadian  border  from 
Detroit  to  Plattsburg.  General  William  Hull's  igno- 
minious surrender  at  Detroit,  and  James  Wilkinson's 
sorry  showing  in  North-western  New  York  are  tales 
we  do  not  like  to  dwell  upon.  In  the  midst  of  the  wel- 
ter Scott  was  destined  to  appear  as  an  unconquerable 


128  Winfield  Scott 

figure.  Wilkinson  was  commander-in-chief  of  the  army, 
having  won  that  place  largely  by  his  treachery  to 
Aaron  Burr  and  Scott  was  in  trouble  with  him  before 
the  war  broke.  In  March,  1812,  he  had,  because  of  his 
legal  training  been  Judge  Advocate  in  the  trial  of  Colo- 
nel Cushing,  a  celebrated  case  in  its  day,  that  made 
him  prominent  in  the  service  and  led  to  a  clash  with 
his  commander.  He  expressed  some  opinions  of  the 
gentleman  that  were  out  of  accord  with  discipline,  was 
arrested  and  brought  before  a  court  martial.  He  was 
found  guilty  of  "speaking  with  contempt  and  disre- 
spect of  his  commanding  officer"  and  was  suspended 
for  a  year.  The  good  man  could  never  control  his 
tongue.  The  war  brushed  aside  his  indiscretion.  He 
was  promoted  to  Lieutenant-Colonel  of  Izard's  Second 
regiment  of  artillery  and  from  then  on  grew  in  size. 
He  began  to  show  his  talents  first  in  the  fighting 
around  Niagara,  was  in  the  assault  on  Queenstown,  in 
which  disaster  he  was  taken  prisoner  and  sent  to  Que- 
bec, to  be  exchanged  a  month  later.  One  wonders  if 
the  British  got  as  good  a  soldier  in  return.  General 
Dearborn  speedily  made  him  Adjutant-General.  May 
27,  1 8 13,  he  led  the  successful  attack  on  Fort  George. 
Promoted  to  a  colonelcy  in  July,  he  resigned  as  Ad- 
jutant-General and  was  given  command  of  Fort 
George.  After  some  activity  he  wintered  in  Albany, 
New  York;  there  promoted  to  be  Brigadier-General  in 
the  spring.  Chippewa,  Lundy's  Lane  and  Bridgewater 
followed.  The  army  was  put  in  the  ascendant.  For 
these  victories  he  was  brevetted  Major-General,  given 
a  vote  of  thanks  and  a  gold  medal  by  Congress,  a 
sword  by  Petersburg,  another  by  the  State  of  Virginia 


Winfield  Scott 129 

and  a  degree  of  A.M.  by  Princeton.  Virginia  also 
named  a  new  county  after  him.  Severe  wounds  com- 
pelled him  to  quit  the  field  and  he  was  appointed  Com- 
mander of  the  Tenth  Military  District.  Scott,  as  a 
young  attorney,  had  looked  in  at  the  trial  of  Aaron 
Burr  at  Richmond.  When  he  received  his  General's 
commission  at  Albany,  some  friends  gave  him  a  dinner. 
One  of  the  guests  was  Burr.  He  was  placed  opposite. 
Looking  keenly  at  the  tall  young  warrior,  Burr  ex- 
claimed : 

"General  Scott,  I've  seen  you  before." 

"Have  you,  indeed." 

"Yes,  I  saw  you  at  my  trial." 

Scott  once  had  the  honor  of  being  challenged  to 
fight  a  duel  by  no  less  personage  than  Andrew  Jackson. 
In  18 17  Jackson's  arbitrary  actions  in  Florida  had 
laid  him  open  to  much  criticism.  Scott  was  among  the 
critics.  He  was  quoted  to  Jackson  as  having  described 
his  course  as  "an  act  of  mutiny"  in  an  anonymous  let- 
ter. Scott  stood  his  ground.  He  admitted  that  Jackson 
was  his  superior  in  rank,  but  not  his  commanding  of- 
ficer. He  added  that  if  he  had  been  in  his  division  he 
would  not  have  hesitated  to  have  expressed  the  opinon 
he  held — that  Jackson's  order  of  April  22,  18 17,  was 
mutinous  in  its  character.  Jackson  sent  back  a  long  and 
furious  reply,  ending  in  a  challenge.  Scott  declined  to 
fight  for  religious  reasons,  and  suggested  it  would  be 
easy  for  Jackson  to  console  himself  by  "the  applica- 
tion of  a  few  epithets,  as  coward,  etc."  He  further  re- 
marked amiably  that  as  the  letter  had  been  written  in 
the  heat  of  passion  he  would  keep  it  private  and  give 
the  writer  a  chance  to  cool  off.  Jackson,  however,  made 


130  Winfield  Scott 

public  the  correspondence.  Six  years  later  when  the 
Tennessean  came  to  the  Senate,  Scott  apprised  him 
that  "I  have  been  six  days  in  your  immediate  vicinity 
without  having  attracted  your  notice"  and  advising 
him  that  as  it  was  the  first  time  he  had  been  within  a 
hundred  miles  of  him,  "I  shall  not  leave  the  district 
before  the  morning  of  the  14th  instant." 

Jackson  concluded  to  interpret  the  note  as  an  olive 
branch  and  replied  that  whenever  Scott  might  feel  like 
meeting  him  on  friendly  terms,  he  would  greet  him  in 
like  spirit.  They  got  on  civilly  thereafter. 

As  already  stated  President  Jackson  sent  him  to 
Charleston  during  the  nullification  troubles.  Here  he 
did  more  by  his  social  graces  than  in  a  military  sense  in 
calming  that  exclusive  community.  The  war  with  the 
Seminole  Indians  kept  his  hand  in  practice  and  he 
ended  that  long  drawn  out  conflict  in  1836-7.  In  1839 
the  "Aroostook  War"  developed  between  Maine  and 
the  Province  of  New  Brunswick  over  the  border  line 
between  the  two.  Maine  militia  hurried  to  the  excited 
spot  and  General  Scott  was  commanded  by  President 
Van  Buren  to  oversee  events.  Here  again  his  urbanity 
smoothed  out  the  situation,  which  Daniel  Webster  set- 
tled by  diplomacy. 

In  1 841  he  became  head  of  the  regular  army.  This 
brought  him  to  Washington  where  he  filled  a  large 
political  and  social  place  and  was  held  in  high  esteem 
for  his  fine  qualities  as  an  officer  and  a  gentleman.  He 
was  the  epitome  of  both.  But  he  was  quick  of  temper, 
much  given  to  reciting  his  intimacies  with  the  great  at 
home  and  abroad,  a  careless  user  of  words  and  un- 
considered criticism,  that,  added  to  his  undoubted,  if 


Winfield  Scott  131 

<     1  ii  — — ^— — — — —  M  < 

harmless  vanity,  made  him  easily  a  source  of  laughter. 
To  be  laughed  at  is  fatal  to  ambition  for  the  presi- 
dency. In  a  military  sense  he  was  considered  somewhat 
archaic  also.  Mrs.  Jefferson  Davis  records  that  when 
her  husband  raised  the  Mississippi  rifles  for  service  in 
Mexico,  he  consulted  Scott,  under  whom  he  had  served 
while  in  the  regular  army.  It  was  his  desire  to  arm  his 
men  with  Whitney  rifles  made  in  New  Haven  by  the 
firm  founded  by  Eli  Whitney,  inventor  of  the  Cotton 
Gin,  which  made  the  staple  king.  Scott  advised  limit- 
ing the  riflemen  to  four  companies,  pointing  out  that 
they  would  be  a  good  ways  from  the  factory,  and  the 
caps  unreliable,  while  flints  could  be  had  anywhere. 
One  of  Scott's  whimsies  was  to  recommend  the  use  of 
French  words  in  giving  orders.  He  laid  this  down  in 
his  "System  of  Tactics."  General  Gaines,  who  drawled 
in  speech  was  once  asked  what  he  thought  of  it.  "I 
think"  he  replied,  "that  a — the — a  English  language 
is  a — sufficiently  copious — to  express — a — all  the  ideas 
that — a — General  Scott  will — a — ever  have." 

The  political  and  military  complexities  of  the  Mexi- 
can War  have  been  sufficiently  described  in  the  pre- 
vious chapters.  Scott  found  himself  before  Vera  Cruz, 
amid  a  huddle  of  transports  and  a  muddle  of  mix-ups. 
He  made  short  work  of  the  siege  and  soon  his  forces 
were  on  shore.  Here  most  of  the  time  the  big  general 
was  not  magnificent.  He  wore  light,  loose  clothes  and 
a  wide-brimmed  straw  hat  to  ward  off  the  heat  of  the 
climate,  which,  with  other  vexations  made  him  testy. 
One  of  these  was  a  feud  with  Commodore  Mathew 
Calbraith  Perry,  who  tried  to  negotiate  with  Santa 
Anna  direct  concerning  sundry  seamen  who  had  been 


132  Winfield  Scott 

taken  prisoners  in  the  assault  on  Vera  Cruz.  Perry  sent 
Lieutenant  Raphael  Semmes  on  this  mission.  Scott 
would  not  let  him  proceed  under  his  flag  of  truce  to 
Mexico  City,  nor  would  Perry  permit  him  to  return 
to  the  squadron  with  his  mission  unfulfilled.  Accord- 
ingly the  lieutenant  assuming  the  role  of  unofficial  ob- 
server trailed  the  army  to  the  capital,  seeing  much 
that  was  worth  while  and  putting  it  all  into  a  very  en- 
tertaining volume.  He  was  to  be  heard  from  again  as 
the  commander  of  the  Confederate  cruiser  Alabama. 

His  forces  landed,  Scott  did  a  good  job  under  dif- 
ficult conditions.  He  was  in  a  foreign  land,  his  troops 
were  mainly  raw,  including  the  regulars  whose  ranks 
had  been  filled  by  newly  arrived  immigrants,  and  his 
support  from  Washington  was  far  from  reliable.  Not- 
withstanding he  fought  his  way  from  the  sea  to  Mex- 
ico City,  up  a  7,000  foot  grade  and  was  always  vic- 
torious. The  capital  was  taken  in  a  series  of  gallant 
actions.  He  entered  the  city  in  the  full  splendor  of  all 
his  bullion  trimmed  uniform  and  feathered  chapeau. 
[No  one  can  complain  of  his  pomp.  The  army  behind 
him  was  ragged  and  footsore,  but  exulted  with  him  in 
the  Halls  of  the  Montezumas. 

In  bringing  about  peace  Scott  acted  kindly  and 
intelligently.  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Robert  J. 
Walker,  evidently  expected  him  to  emulate  the  Spanish 
Conquistadores  and  send  back  ship-loads  of  silver. 
None  came  and  he  had  to  borrow  to  fill  the  govern- 
ment coffers. 

There  was  plenty  of  glory  for  Scott  and  Taylor  but 
none  for  James  K.  Polk.  Scott  had  not  played  politics, 
but  no  sooner  had  he  truimphed  than  General  Gideon 


-//oef^/rsc 


THE   GREAT   WAR   COMET   OF    1861. 

WINFIELD    SCOTT,    THE    WAR    HERO 

A  striking  cartoon  of  the  ranking  General  at  the  outbreak  of  the   Civil  War. 
From   Vanity  Fair,  August  3,   1861 


Winfield  Scott  133 

J.  Pillow,  Polk's  law  partner  sent  letters  to  the  New 
Orleans  Delta  belittling  him.  He  was  one  of  the  politi- 
cal generals  who  had  been  a  nuisance  in  the  campaign 
and  in  his  communications  gave  Generals  Worth  and 
Duncan  all  the  credit.  Scott  issued  orders  to  stop  the 
writing,  with  the  result  that  he  was  defied  and  put  the 
three  under  arrest.  He  himself  had  been  critical  of 
his  commander-in-chief,  the  President,  and  of  William 
L.  Marcy,  Secretary  of  War,  his  superior.  The  accused 
officers  were  released  from  duress  without  trial  and 
Scott  was  recalled.  He  left  the  army  on  April  22, 
1848,  greatly  to  the  regret  of  the  men  who  had  fought 
under  him  and  who  bore  their  gallant  leader  great  re- 
gard. 

The  Whig  Convention  met  in  Philadelphia  on  June 
1,  1848.  Taylor  led  from  the  start  for  the  Presidential 
nomination  with  1 1 1  votes,  but  Scott  was  not  without 
friends.  They  polled  him  43  votes  and  these  increased 
to  49  on  the  second  ballot.  On  the  fourth  his  total 
reached  54,  but  Taylor  gaining  171  was  declared  the 
candidate. 

If  the  Whig  Party  or  the  Polk  administration  was 
not  appreciative  Congress  was.  It  gave  Scott  a  vote  of 
thanks,  a  gold  medal  and  the  brevet  of  Lieutenant- 
General,  a  new  rank  in  our  army,  which  soon  became 
almost  too  small  to  accommodate  it.  Located  in  Wash- 
ington the  General  resumed  his  position  as  a  command- 
ing figure.  The  Kansas-Nebraska  situation  flamed  up 
and  the  embers  of  Calhoun's  policy  began  to  glow. 
Scott  felt  that  the  country  was  "on  the  eve  of  a  terrible 
civil  war." 

The  campaign  of  1852  was  next  at  hand.  How  Scott 


134  Winfield  Scott 

secured  the  Whig  nomination  has  been  told  in  the 
chapter  preceding. 

With  both  parties  accepting  the  fugitive  slave  law 
and  standing  all  fours  on  the  Constitution  the  con- 
test was  sluggish  and  soon  narrowed  down  to  a  contest 
between  the  professional  and  the  amateur  soldiers. 
There  was  much  comparing  of  military  records,  to  the 
disparagement  of  both.  There  was  a  "Maine  law" 
temperance  wave  rolling  over  the  land  and  Pierce's 
taste  for  good  wines  was  expanded  into  making  him 
a  drunken  sot.  Scott's  "hasty  plate  of  soup"  came  up  to 
plague  him,  supplemented  by  his  use  of  a  vulgar  ex- 
pression when  appraised  of  his  nomination  by  the 
committee,  that  indicated  they  had  found  him  with 
his  unmentionables  detached  from  his  suspenders.  To 
the  Whigs  Scott  was  a  hero  and  Pierce  a  coward.  To 
the  Democrats  Scott  was  "Old  Fuss  and  Feathers,"  a 
mountain  of  flesh  and  egotism.  A  flood  of  Irish  im- 
migrants had  poured  into  the  country  following  the 
famine  of  1846.  This  had  given  a  start  to  know-noth- 
ingism  that  was  now  strong.  Scott,  asked  for  his  stand 
on  the  question  of  alien  citizenship,  hesitated  "between 
extending  the  period  of  residence  before  naturalization 
and  a  total  repeal  of  all  acts  of  Congress  on  the  sub- 
ject," with  a  mental  inclination  toward  the  latter. 

Naturally  this  did  not  help  him  with  the  foreign 
element,  already  numerous  in  the  seacoast  cities.  The 
scurrilities  were  out  of  place.  Both  candidates  were 
gentlemen,  and  so  rated  each  other.  It  was  hard  how- 
ever to  restrain  their  following.  Scott,  of  course  out- 
shone Pierce  in  the  matter  of  military  prestige.  To 
begin  with,   he  had  been  at  it  longer.  The  Whigs 


Winfield  Scott 135 

harked  back  to  Lundy's  Lane  in  a  prodigious  effort  to 
enthuse  the  uninterested,  but  that  gallant  event  was 
nearly  forty  years  old  and  made  small  appeal  to  a 
new  generation.  The  Mexican  War  was  nearer,  but 
the  names  were  hard  to  pronounce  and  there  was  not 
much  to  brag  of  after  all  in  licking  the  "Greasers." 

Scott's  speeches  were  gems  of  indiscretion.  Heckled 
by  a  voice  with  a  Celtic  twang  in  Cleveland  he  ejacu- 
lated: "I  hear  that  rich  brogue;  I  love  to  hear  it.  It 
makes  me  remember  the  noble  deeds  of  Irishmen, 
many  of  whom  I  have  led  to  battle  and  to  victory." 
He  might  have  added  that  he  had  shot  and  hanged  not 
a  few  of  them  in  Mexico.  Many  of  the  new  arrivals  at 
Castle  Garden  had  been  inveigled  into  enlisting  and 
finding  campaigning  in  the  tropics  uncomfortable, 
deserted  freely,  for  which  they  could  not  be  greatly 
blamed.  Numerous  Mexican  families  date  from  these 
changes  in  alliances.  The  Irish  were  not  alone  in  this. 
There  was  a  German  inflow  at  the  same  time,  upon 
which  the  army  drew.  The  General  informed  a  Teu- 
tonic delegation  at  Columbus,  coming  to  seek  favor, 
that  he  had  hanged  fifteen  of  their  fellows  in  Mexico ! 

He  "slopped  over"  right  and  left.  He  did  not  dis- 
cuss issues,  partly  because  there  were  none  which  either 
party  cared  to  debate,  and  because  the  gruff  old  fellow 
lacked  the  finesse  to  deal  with  them.  James  Gordon 
Bennett,  of  the  New  York  Herald,  who  was  support- 
ing Pierce,  put  fifty-two  of  Scott's  speeches  into  a  cam- 
paign sheet  and  labelled  them:  "The  Modern  Epic, 
Fifty-Two  Speeches  by  Major-General  Winfield  Scott, 
embracing  a  narrative  of  a  trip  to  the  Blue  Licks  and 
back  to  Washington  in  search  of  a  site  for  a  military 


136 Winfield  Scott 

hospital.  The  Illiad  of  the  Nineteenth  Century.''  The 
New  York  Tribune  was  the  leading  Whig  organ.  It 
could  not  swallow  the  acquiescence  of  the  party  with 
slavery  nor  follow  the  meanderings  of  Scott.  It  treated 
Pierce  respectfully  and  did  not  warm  up  during  the 
campaign.  Bennett  was  immensely  helpful  to  the  Dem- 
ocrats. The  Whigs  carried  but  four  states,  Vermont, 
Kentucky,  Massachusetts  and  Tennessee,  giving  Scott 
42  electoral  votes.  Pierce  captured  all  the  other  states 
and  had  254,  with  a  plurality  of  220,896.  The  country 
had  registered  its  endorsement  of  the  compromise  and 
its  disapproval  of  anti-slavery  agitation.  It  also  dis- 
posed of  fuss  and  feathers.  Pierce  had  made  no  cam- 
paign, remaining  in  quiet  dignity  at  his  home  in 
Concord.  The  Free-Soil  vote  was  negligible.  The  coun- 
try felt  itself  safe  and  in  wise  hands. 

Why  did  the  Whigs  select  Scott?  Fillmore  stood 
well  with  the  country  and  Webster  towered  above  him 
like  a  mountain  over  a  mole-hill.  Two  soldiers,  Harri- 
son and  Taylor,  had  given  the  party  its  two  victories. 
It  was  only  logical  to  expect  success  with  a  third,  the 
most  distinguished  of  them  all.  To  the  chastening  of 
defeat  was  added  the  fact  in  the  President  he  had  over 
him  a  former  subordinate,  who  added  to  this  humilia- 
tion the  further  one  of  making  Jefferson  Davis  Secre- 
tary of  War.  Davis  was  a  West-Pointer  and  took 
over  all  the  real  duties  of  running  the  army,  among 
other  things  sending  light  artillery  to  hunt  Indians  on 
the  plains  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  to  the  infinite 
disgust  of  Scott,  who  transferred  his  headquarters 
from  Washington  to  New  York  and  was  only  nomi- 
nally in  power  for  four  years.  Mrs.  Davis  pokes  a  bit 


Winfield  Scott 137 

of  fun  at  him  in  her  memoir  of  her  husband,  in  relating 
an  incident  that  occurred  at  a  dinner  to  which  the  Sec- 
retary had  invited  a  very  handsome  young  army  cap- 
tain named  George  B.  McClellan  to  whom  he  had 
taken  a  great  fancy,  and  over  whom  Scott  at  once  "as- 
sumed a  protectorate. " 

General  Totten,  [she  writes]  and  he  (McClellan)  were 
talking  about  trap-rock  in  an  undertone  while  General  Scott 
was  explaining  to  the  Comte  de  Sartige  how  to  cook  terrapin, 
'mixing  the  wine  with  a  judicious  flavoring  of  spice,  but  no 
flour,  sir — not  a  grain.'  Captain  McClellan  had  just  then 
uttered  the  word  'trap!'  General  Scott  set  his  fork  rampant  and 
called  across  the  table,  'no,  sir,  I  say,  no !  they  are  never  caught 
in  a  trap!'  General  Totten  explained  in  his  debonair  way  that 
they  were  speaking  of  trap-rock,  but  the  General  gave  us  a  dis- 
quisition on  the  proper  manner  of  chasing  buffalo  upon  the 
plains,  and  wound  up  with  the  announcement,  'I  have  never 
heard  of  their  being  caught  in  a  trap,  Sir.' 

Davis  resigned  his  post  to  become  once  more  Sena- 
tor from  Mississippi  and  Congress  made  Scott  full 
Lieutenant-General,  January  15,  1855.  From  that  time 
on  he  was  a  show  figure  in  Washington  society.  The 
tense  Kansas  situation  in  1856,  growing  as  much  out 
of  the  inaction  of  Congress  as  from  any  other  reason, 
caused  Senator  J.  J.  Crittenden,  of  Kentucky,  to  insist 
that  General  Scott  be  sent  to  the  perturbed  territory, 
as  one  "who  in  such  a  contest  carries  the  sword  in  his 
left  hand  ;and  in  his  right  peace,  gentle  peace."  The 
Democrats  in  Congress  did  not  care  to  use  a  man  who 
had  so  recently  been  in  the  political  field  against  them, 
so  nothing  came  of  the  suggestion.  When  the  October 


138 Winfield  Scott 

elections  indicated  plainly  the  coming  triumph  of  Lin- 
coln and  the  Republicans  in  November,  he  wrote  to 
President  Buchanan  on  October  29,  i860,  urging  that 
the  Federal  forts,  below  Mason  and  Dixon's  line, 
should  be  garrisoned  at  once,  so  strongly  as  to  be 
proof  against  surprise.  As  he  coupled  this  with  very 
unwarlike  suggestions  favoring  peaceful  disunion,  the 
President  did  not  respond  affirmatively,  fearing  rightly 
that  a  military  move  would  start  a  war  at  his  hands. 
He  preferred  to  leave  it  to  his  successor. 

Following  the  election  with  the  choice  of  Mr. 
Lincoln,  state  after  state  seceded,  the  crisis  fast  took 
shape.  Major  Robert  Anderson  shifted  his  command 
from  Fort  Moultrie  to  the  safer  walls  of  Sumter,  with 
the  result  that  a  committee  was  sent  from  Charleston 
to  demand  from  the  President  its  return  to  Moultrie. 
He  received  them  as  "private  gentlemen"  and  seem- 
ingly yielded:  J.  S.  Black,  Joseph  Holt  and  Edwin  M. 
Stanton,  who  had  joined  the  cabinet,  stiffened  his  back 
so  that  he  finally  refused  in  firm  terms,  to  issue  the 
order.  Scott  supported  this  stand,  pleaded  again  for 
the  sending  of  reinforcements  and  asked  permission  to 
do  so.  This  was  assented  to  #nd  he  prepared  to  embark 
two  hundred  men  from  Fortress  Monroe  on  board  the 
Brooklyn,  Captain  David  G.  Farragut,  who  was  pretty 
certain  to  deliver  them.  He  had  been  in  Charleston 
with  Scott  in  the  nullification  experience.  The  ship  did 
not  start.  Mr.  Buchanan  asked  Scott  to  delay  until  he 
heard  from  the  commissioners,  as  a  matter  of  polite- 
ness. To  this  the  General  assented.  The  reply  arrived 
January  2,  1861,  couched  in  such  terms  that  Mr. 
Buchanan  refused  to  receive  it.  "It  is  now  all  over,"  he 


Winfield  Scott  139 


remarked  to  Holt,  "and  reinforcements  must  be  sent." 
Here,  however,  he  failed  again.  Some  doubt  as  to 
whether  the  Brooklyn  could  cross  the  Charleston  bar, 
caused  the  substitution  of  an  unarmed  transport,  the 
Star  of  the  West,  for  the  warship,  with  Captain  John 
McGovern,  instead  of  Farragut.  A  few  shots  from  a 
battery  on  Morris  Island  and  Fort  Moultrie  sent  him 
back  North  and  mightily  increased  Charleston's  con- 
tumacy. 

The  die  was  now  cast.  Scott  became  active  as  adviser 
to  Buchanan  but  could  not  gain  from  him  the  power 
to  reinforce  the  forts.  Senator  Preston  King,  of  New 
York,  writing  to  John  Bigelow,  January  26,  1861, 
thought  Scott  could  protect  the  capital.  He  and  Holt 
were  working  together  and  the  General  expected  to 
have  one  thousand  regulars  on  hand  to  guard  against 
eventualities.  Salmon  P.  Chase,  arriving  at  Washing- 
ton from  Ohio  to  become  Mr.  Lincoln's  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  found  only  one  man  "Who  seemed  to  me 
to  deserve  to  be  called  distinguished.  That  man  was 
General  Scott." 

March  3,  1861,  the  day  before  Lincoln's  inaugura- 
tion, General  Scott  wrote  "in  haste"  as  usual,  a  letter 
to  his  former  Whig  associate  William  H.  Seward, 
slated  to  be  Secretary  of  State  on  "the  highly  disor- 
ganized condition  of  our  (so  late)  happy  and  glorious 
Union."  It  contained  four  points  designed  to  save  the 
country.  The  first  suggested  that  the  Republican  party 
"throw  off  its  old  and  assume  a  new  designation — the 
Union  party,"  and  accept  the  pending  Crittenden  com- 
promise. Unless  this  were  done,  the  remaining  slave 
states  were  certain  to  secede  and  Washington,  "being 


140  Winfield  Scott 

n  -i-„iim  ■ 

included  in  a  foreign  country,  would  require  a  per- 
manent garrison  of  at  least  35,000  men  to  protect  the 
government  within  it."  The  second  idea  was  to  avoid 
a  clash  by  collecting  duties  "outside  the  ports  of  which 
the  government  has  lost  the  command  or  close  such 
ports  by  Act  of  Congress  and  blockade  them."  The 
third:  "Conquer  the  seceding  states  by  invading  ar- 
mies." This  he  thought  could  be  done  in  two  or  three 
years  by  "a  young  and  able  general — a  Wolfe,  a 
Desaix,  or  a  Hoche — with  300,000  disciplined  men." 
To  great  loss  of  life  and  property  he  saw  added  a 
debt  of  $250,000,000  and  "fifteen  devastated  prov- 
inces," not  to  be  brought  into  harmony  with  their  con- 
querors," but  to  be  "held  for  generations  by  heavy 
garrisons,  at  an  expense  quadruple  the  net  duties  or 
taxes  which  it  would  be  possible  to  extract  from  them, 
followed  by  a  protector  or  an  emperor."  The  fourth 
idea  probably  represented  his  real  feeling:  "Say  to  the 
seceded  states — 'wayward  sisters,  depart  in  peace.'  ' 
In  this  last  he  was  far  from  alone.  Horace  Greeley 
and  many  others  agreed  with  him.  Virginia  was  not  yet 
out.  Thurlow  Weed  was  of  opinion  that  Scott  would 
not  be  very  willing  to  coerce  his  native  state.  He  did 
on  March  12th,  advise  the  new  President  to  evacuate 
Sumter,  as  something  "almost  inevitable"  rightly  sens- 
ing that  it  could  not  stand  a  long  siege.  Lincoln  sent 
two  personal  friends,  Congressmen  S.  A.  Hurlbert,  of 
Illinois,  and  Ward  H.  Lamon  to  Charleston  to  feel 
out  the  situation  and  report  back;  also  Assistant  Sec- 
retary of  the  Navy,  Gustavus  V.  Fox,  to  survey  the 
fortifications  and  see  if  they  could  be  successfully 
succored  by  a  relief  expedition.  Hurlbert  and  Lamon 


Winfield  Scott  141 

saw  no  hope  of  conciliation  and  Fox  was  sure  warships 
could  get  by.  Events  led  to  the  firing  on  Sumter  before 
this  could  be  tested  out. 

Scott  was  now  much  in  the  public  eye  of  the  North. 
It  hailed  him  as  the  great  warrior  who  would  sweep 
the  rebellion  off  the  face  of  the  landscape  with  a  few 
waves  of  his  sword.  Vanity  Fair,  the  New  York  comic 
paper,  edited  by  Charles  Godfrey  Leland,  printed  one 
cartoon  picturing  him  astride  an  eagle  scattering  the 
Confederacy,  and  another  as  an  all-terrifying  comet 
with  a  glittering  tail  of  bayonets.  The  disaster  at  Bull 
Run  showed  the  South  was  not  scared  so  easily.  Scott 
was  opposed  to  the  encounter,  but  it  was  forced  by 
clamor.  Blame  was  allowed  to  fall  mainly  on  Simon 
Cameron,  Secretary  of  War,  who  deserved  much  of  it. 

Scott  knew  the  task  lay  beyond  his  powers.  He  was 
seventy-five  and  had  worn  the  harness  for  fifty-three 
years.  So  on  October  31,  1 861,  he  laid  down  his  sword. 

For  more  than  three  years,  [he  wrote  Cameron  in  resigning,] 
I  have  been  unable  from  a  hurt  to  mount  a  horse,  or  walk 
more  than  a  few  paces  at  a  time,  and  that  with  much  pain. 
Other  and  new  infirmities — dropsy  and  vertigo,  admonish  me 
that  repose  of  mind  and  body,  with  the  appliances  of  surgery 
and  medicine,  are  necessary  to  add  a  little  more  to  a  life  already 
much  protracted  beyond  the  usual  span  of  man.  It  is  under  such 
circumstances — made  doubly  painful  by  the  unnatural  and  un- 
just rebellion  now  raging  in  the  Southern  states  of  our  (so  late) 
prosperous  and  happy  Union — that  I  am  compelled  to  request 
that  my  name  be  placed  on  the  list  of  army  officers  retired  from 
active  service. 

His  letter  was  laid  before  a  special  cabinet  meeting 


142  Winfield  Scott 

the  same  day,  where  with  a  sense  of  gratitude  for  past 
services  and  relief  in  the  crisis,  it  was  decided  to  place 
him  on  the  retired  list  with  the  full  pay  of  his  rank. 
The  cabinet  proceeded  in  a  body  to  General  Scott's 
residence  and  there  with  many  expressions  of  good 
will  and  affection,  advised  him  of  their  action.  Deeply 
moved  the  fine  old  man  made  an  address  full  of  fervor 
and  patriotism.  The  next  day,  November  i,  1861,  Mr. 
Lincoln  issued  the  order  for  his  retirement.  "The 
American  people"  he  added  to  the  formal  words,  "will 
hear  with  sadness  and  deep  emotion  that  General 
Scott  has  withdrawn  from  active  control  of  the  army, 
while  the  President  and  unanimous  Cabinet  express 
their  own  and  the  nation's  sympathy  in  his  personal 
affliction,  and  their  profound  sense  of  the  important 
public  services  rendered  by  him  to  his  country  dur- 
ing his  long  and  brilliant  career,  among  which  will 
ever  be  gratefully  distinguished  his  faithful  devotion 
to  the  Constitution,  the  Union  and  the  flag  when  as- 
sailed by  parracidal  rebellion." 

On  the  same  day  Mr.  Lincoln  made  Major-General 
George  B.  McClellan  Commander-in-Chief.  He  had 
been  impatient  with  Scott  and  was  now  to  be  given  an 
opportunity  to  show  his  mettle,  with  results  that  will 
be  told  later.  Scott  at  once  went  to  Europe,  where  he 
located  in  Paris.  Here  he  encountered  the  probabil- 
ities of  a  war  with  England  growing  out  of  the  taking 
of  Messrs.  Mason  and  Slidell  off  the  British  Steamer 
Trent.  John  Bigelow,  then  in  charge  of  our  affairs  in 
France,  thought  the  old  gentlemen,  who  stood  well 
abroad,  could  be  used  to  advantage  in  putting  out  a 
conciliatory  letter.  Thurlow  Weed  was  in  Paris  at  the 


Winfield  Scott  143 

time  and  undertook  to  prepare  the  General's  mind 
for  the  move.  Bigelow  wrote  the  note,  which  Scott 
promptly  signed.  It  was  given  out  as  to  a  friend,  who 
was  presumably  disturbed,  and  assured  him  that  Eng- 
land had  no  grounds  for  concern  "if,  as  her  rulers  pro- 
fess, she  has  no  disposition  to  encourage  dissensions 
in  America."  He  gave  extended  reasons  to  show  "that 
an  event  so  mutually  disastrous  as  a  war  between  Eng- 
land and  America  cannot  occur  without  other  and 
graver  provocation  than  has  been  given  either  nation." 
This  soothing  note  found  echo  in  the  views  of  Albert, 
Prince  Consort,  and  nothing  happened  beyond  much 
correspondence  though  the  mischievous  Lord  Palmer- 
ston  wrote  Queen  Victoria  that  Scott  was  on  a  diplo- 
matic mission  to  persuade  France  to  join  America 
against  England,  and  quoted  him  as  saying  that  the 
seizing  of  the  envoys  was  ordered  at  a  meeting  of 
Lincoln's  cabinet  at  which  he,  Scott,  was  present. 
There  of  course  was  not  a  vestige  of  truth  in  it. 

So  far  as  Scott  was  concerned  he  figured  no  more 
beyond  writing  his  autobiography.  It  showed  a  proper 
appreciation  of  the  merits  of  its  subject,  and  roused 
criticism  by  its  egotism  and  frank  conceit.  He  was 
proud  of  himself  and  with  just  cause,  but  was  not  con- 
tent to  let  others  say  it.  The  General  lived  to  see  the 
triumph  of  Union  arms,  dying  at  West  Point,  May  29, 
1866. 


VIII 
JOHN  CHARLES  FREMONT 

A  PATHFINDER  WHO  LOST  HIS  WAY 

NO  more  romantic  figure  looms  in  America  than 
John  Charles  Fremont,  and  no  American  did 
more  for  his  country,  or  received  less  in  re- 
turn. Son  of  another  John  Charles  Fremont,  who  saw 
the  light  in  Lyons,  France,  and  Anna  Whiting,  di- 
vorced wife  of  Major  John  Pryor  of  Virginia,  he  was 
born  in  Savannah,  Georgia,  January  2,  18 13.  The 
father  and  mother  had  been  on  a  nomadic  tour 
through  the  South,  camping  out  much  on  their  way. 
Perhaps  this  bred  a  pre-natal  influence  on  his  after  life. 
During  a  stop  in  Nashville,  Tennessee,  at  the  City 
Hotel,  September  4,  18 13,  the  couple  were  disturbed 
by  a  shower  of  pistol  bullets  that  smashed  through  the 
walls  of  their  room.  These  came  from  weapons  set 
in  play  by  Andrew  Jackson,  Jesse  and  Thomas  H. 
Benton,  who  were  striving  to  settle  a  difference  out  in 
the  hall.  Thomas  H.  Benton  was  to  come  largely  into 
the  then  baby  Fremont's  life. 

The  senior  Fremont  wished  to  return  to  France,  but 
died  in  18 18,  with  his  desire  unfulfilled.  His  widow 
settled  in  Charleston,  S.  C.  Here,  as  a  small  boy,  Fre- 
mont was  apprenticed  to  law  in  John  W.  Mitchell's  of- 
fice. His  beauty  of  person,  and  many  graces,  interested 

144 


John  Charles  Fremont  145 

the  attorney,  who  caused  him  to  be  sent  to  a  private 
school  conducted  by  Dr.  John  Robertson.  This  Scotch 
instructor  fitted  boys  for  Charleston  college,  which 
Fremont  entered  in  due  season.  College  did  not  appeal 
to  him.  His  hot  young  blood  preferred  outdoors,  and 
his  good  looks  made  him  a  favorite  with  young  ladies. 
The  two  passions  spoiled  him  as  a  student,  and  he  was 
expelled  when  seventeen  for  inattention  and  insubordi- 
nation, as  the  record  states.  Insubordination  was  to 
plague  him  much  in  after  life. 

The  brightness  of  his  intellect,  and  his  charm  of 
manner,  kept  him  in  friends.  One  of  these  was  Joel  R. 
Poinsett,  a  very  remarkable  man,  who  occupied  a  con- 
siderable place  in  the  affairs  of  the  day.  Poinsett's  in- 
fluence procured  the  fiery  youth  a  position  as  instructor 
in  mathematics  on  the  Natchez  sloop  of  war.  He  was 
twenty  when  the  ship  sailed  for  the  South  American 
station,  and  remained  away  three  years.  Passing  an 
examination,  he  secured  the  rating  of  professor  of 
mathematics.  There  was  no  naval  academy  then,  and 
would-be  admirals  were  educated  at  the  navy  yards. 
He  declined  a  post  at  Norfolk,  and  became  a  civil  en- 
gineer, as  railway  building  was  beginning  to  engross 
the  attention  of  the  enterprising.  Among  other  things 
he  assisted  in  surveying  the  lands  taken  from  the  Cher- 
okees  in  their  shift  to  the  Indian  Territory.  Poinsett, 
now  Secretary  of  War,  had  him  appointed  as  second 
lieutenant  in  the  topographical  corps.  He  was  sent, 
with  Jean  Francis  Nicollet,  to  spy  out  the  Northwest. 
Two  years  were  spent  at  this  work. 

Returning  to  Washington,  richly  laden  with  mate- 
rial to  be  worked  up  in  maps  and  reports,  Fremont  fell 


146  John  Charles  Fremont 

in  with  the  family  of  Senator  Benton,  who  had  shared 
in  the  fusillade  at  Nashville  that  disturbed  his  infantile 
sleep,  and  made  the  acquaintance  of  a  charming  daugh- 
ter, Jessie  Benton.  Love  at  first  sight  was  the  result. 
They  were  kept  apart  by  parental  disapproval,  but 
managed  to  elope  on  October  17,  1841.  The  bride  was 
then  seventeen,  the  groom  twenty-eight.  They  never 
repented  at  leisure,  but  lived  happily  ever  after,  the 
wife  being  a  master  influence  in  his  life. 

Nicollet  had  planned  a  new  expedition  to  the  far- 
thest West,  via  the  South  Pass,  at  the  headwaters  of 
the  river  Platte.  Fremont  was  to  be  second  in  com- 
mand. Ill  health  caused  Nicollet  to  relinquish  the  plan, 
and  it  was  abandoned.  The  Oregon  question  having 
arisen,  Fremont  pressed  for  the  privilege  of  carrying 
the  flag  to  the  Columbia.  Finally,  the  attempt  was  au- 
thorized, and  on  May  2,  1842,  he  started  on  the  es- 
say. Twenty-one  men  took  part  in  the  adventure,  the 
most  famous  and  useful  of  whom  was  Kit  Carson,  the 
scout.  The  party  crossed  Missouri,  Kansas  and  Ne- 
braska, then  barely  outlined,  and  pushed  on  to  the 
Rockies. 

Here  they  fell  in  with  James  Bridger  and  a  party 
of  Oregon  emigrants  in  hard  luck.  They  were  on  the 
well  defined  Oregon  trail.  Fremont  could  have  fol- 
lowed this  with  little  addition  to  knowledge,  but  turned 
to  the  South  Pass  and  the  unknown  beyond.  June  21, 
1842,  the  party  left  Fort  Laramie  and  continued  until 
it  reached  the  crest  of  the  Wind  River  range,  on  a 
mountain  to  which  he  gave  his  name,  thinking  he  had 
attained  the  highest  altitude,  though  he  had  not.  Satis- 


John  Charles  Fremont  147 

fied  with  this  exploit,  the  expedition  now  made  its  way 
back  to  civilization. 

In  the  spring  of  1843,  Fremont  resumed  his  activ- 
ities, starting  from  Kansas  City  on  May  29th.  He 
added  a  12-pound  cannon  to  his  equipment,  word  of 
which  reaching  Washington,  led  to  his  recall,  but  his 
wife,  learning  of  it,  sent  word  for  him  to  depart 
quickly,  which  he  did,  cannon  and  all,  before  the  com- 
mand caught  him.  The  powers  knew  he  had  a  sense  of 
adventure,  and  feared  he  might  undertake  a  conquest 
of  Mexican  domains,  without  other  authority  than  his 
own — as  he  afterwards  did  in  California. 

Fortunate,  indeed,  for  the  future  of  his  country, 
Fremont  at  once  obeyed  his  wife's  advice,  and  asked 
no  questions.  The  results  of  his  enterprise  were  so  re- 
markable that,  when  he  returned,  the  world  rang  with 
his  repute,  and  a  great  dominion  was  laid  open  to  the 
nation.  He  had  found  his  way  to  the  sour-ce  of  the 
Colorado,  the  Green  River  valley,  and  the  Great  Salt 
Lake  of  Utah,  where  the  Mormons  were  soon  to  fol- 
low. Thence  he  discovered  a  path  to  the  Columbia. 
Turning  back,  the  return  was  more  venturesome  than 
the  advance.  The  march  led  into  the  Mexican  terri- 
tory of  California  via  the  Sacramento  valley,  where 
Fremont  fell  in  with  John  A.  Sutter's  fort,  which  was 
to  become  soon  a  center  of  world  interest  through  the 
discovery  of  gold.  This  invasion  of  California  was  en- 
tirely unauthorized.  Mexico  forbade  the  incoming  of 
all  Americans.  A  caravan,  with  a  12-pounder,  would 
hardly  have  been  welcomed,  but  the  gun  had  to  be 
abandoned  in  the  snow  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  and  they 


148  John  Charles  Fremont 

came  to  Sutter's  fort  starving.  The  course  out  of  Cali- 
fornia lay  by  Las  Vegas,  Nevada,  then  Mexican  soil, 
whence  it  followed  the  so-called  Spanish  trail.  So  the 
bold  explorers  came  again  to  Utah,  and  then  to  Bent's 
Fort  on  the  Arkansas,  and  crossed  the  prairies  home. 
Fourteen  months  of  hardship  had  been  endured  without 
loss  of  life,  or  a  single  day's  sickness  on  the  part  of  any 
man. 

The  success  of  this  expedition  led  to  Fremont's  pro- 
motion by  brevet  to  a  captaincy.  He  handed  in  his  re- 
port to  the  Secretary  of  War  on  March  1,  1845.  The 
incident  of  the  howitzer  was  overlooked,  and  his  fame 
filled  the  country.  James  K.  Polk  had  just  become  Pres- 
ident. Mexico  had  resented  the  acquisition  of  Texas, 
which,  though  it  had  been  established  as  a  republic, 
she  had  continued  to  regard  as  her  possession.  There 
existed  an  excuse  for  war,  Texas  having  claimed  the 
Rio  Grande  as  the  true  border,  while  Mexico  stood  on 
the  Neuces.  Warning  had  already  come  from  the  Gov- 
ernment that  any  advance  beyond  that  river  meant 
conflict.  Her  troops  were  mobilized  to  protest  any  fur- 
ther invasion. 

California,  cut  off  from  Mexico,  meant  much  to  the 
United  States.  The  Oregon  line  dispute  was  not  cold, 
and  it  was  easily  imagined  that  England  might  take 
this  fat  slice  of  the  Pacific  coast. 

Fremont's  knowledge,  and  the  success  of  his  explo- 
rations, made  it  only  natural  that  he  should  become  a 
factor  in  this  emergency.  Senator  Benton's  influence 
in  the  councils  of  the  Administration  was  large.  The 
"eventualities  of  war  were  considered,"  Fremont 
states,  in  his  account  of  the  affair,  and  "if  not  inter- 


John  Charles  Fremont  149 

cepted  by  us,  an  English  fleet  would  certainly  take  pos- 
session of  San  Francisco  Bay." 

The  "eventualities"  caused  him  to  be  furnished  with 
a  much  larger  force  than  those  which  had  accompanied 
previous  expeditions.  It  was  well  armed  and  otherwise 
equipped  by  a  liberal  appropriation,  and  proceeded 
West  in  the  summer  of  1845,  reaching  Bent's  Fort  on 
the  Arkansas,  on  August  2nd.  Another  topographical 
engineer,  Lieutenant  J.  W.  Abert,  was  detailed  to  ex- 
amine the  Southwest,  preparing  the  way  for  the  ac- 
quisition of  Arizona  and  New  Mexico.  This  left  Fre- 
mont sixty  men,  including  some  Delaware  Indians. 
They  moved  into  Colorado  to  the  Royal  Gorge,  and 
on  up  in  the  mountains  to  the  head  of  White  River. 
Humbolt,  Nevada,  was  the  next  point  gained.  Here  he 
split  his  party,  to  explore  on  separate  lines  and  meet 
at  Walker  Lake.  This  they  reached  in  November. 
They  next  worked  across  the  Sierras,  following  a 
path  made  some  time  before  by  the  unfortunate  Don- 
ner  party,  coming  into  touch  with  a  branch  of  the  Bear 
River  that  leads  into  the  Sacramento  valley. 

Turning  south  from  the  rough  emigrant  road  on 
December  6th,  they  reached  the  north  fork  of  the 
American  River,  and  a  few  days  later  were  again  at 
Sutter's  fort,  where  Fremont  learned  that  his  previous 
visit  had  caused  "some  excitement  among  the  Mexi- 
can authorities."  His  second  coming  was  destined  to 
cause  a  great  deal  more.  "New  Helvetia"  was  the 
name  of  Sutter's  domain.  He  was  a  Swiss,  and  had 
been  a  captain  under  the  great  Napoleon.  Because  his 
request  for  supplies  was  not  complied  with — only 
through  lack  of  them — Fremont  thought  it  an  echo  of 


150  John  Charles  Fremont 

the  hostility  he  had  a  right  to  expect,  and  rode  on  to 
Monterey  with  Kit  Carson.  Here  the  United  States 
had  a  Consul,  Thomas  O.  Larkin,  to  whom  he  com- 
municated his  arrival,  and  returned  to  the  main  body 
in  time  to  beat  off  one  hundred  Indians  who  had  at- 
tacked it  at  the  headwaters  of  the  Mariposa.  One  of 
the  braves  was  killed.  The  next  day  another  red  man 
was  slain — wantonly,  it  would  appear.  Fremont  ex- 
plored what  was  to  become  his  rich  and  troublesome 
"Mariposa  Grant."  The  other  party  had  not  joined  at 
Walker  Lake,  and  so  all  returned  to  Sutter's,  expect- 
ing to  find  them  there.  They  had  not  come.  Fremont 
once  more  journeyed  to  Monterey,  stopping  en  route 
at  Yerba  Buena,  now  San  Francisco.  He  reached 
Monterey  on  January  26,  1846,  and  proceeded  to 
make  official  visits.  As  commander  of  an  armed  force 
he  was  hardly  welcome.  The  governor,  Pio  Pico,  was 
not  at  home.  He  met  the  alcalde,  the  prefect  and  the 
military  commander,  and  asked  permission  to  spend 
the  winter  in  the  country.  This,  the  general,  Don  Jose 
Castro,  granted.  The  others  now  came  in,  giving  Fre- 
mont sixty-two  well  armed  and  mounted  men.  An  old 
ranch  near  Mt.  Hamilton,  where  the  Lick  Observa- 
tory now  stands,  was  fixed  up  for  quarters,  and  from  it 
exploring  parties  were  sent  out. 

A  considerable  number  of  American  adventurers 
were  already  in  the  country,  and  there  had  been  civil 
strife  before.  Now  the  presence  of  Fremont  and  his 
band  roused  a  new  desire  to  acquire  control.  Governor 
Pico  had  already  been  warned  to  allow  no  more 
gringos  in  the  country,  and  there  was  a  strong  impulse 


John  Charles  Fremont  151 

to  expel  those  already  there,  which  naturally  stiffened 
the  desire  for  revolt. 

On  March  8,  1846,  Fremont  was  served  with  per- 
emptory orders  to  depart.  He  was  there  with  an  armed 
force,  without  any  sort  of  permit  from  the  Mexican 
government,  and  his  departure  was  in  order.  Instead 
of  going,  he  shifted  his  ground  to  Gavilan  Peak,  where 
he  erected  a  stockade  and  defied  the  ukase.  A  troop  of 
Mexican  cavalry  appearing,  he  laid  an  ambuscade  for 
them,  which  they,  luckily  for  themselves,  unconsciously 
evaded.  Castro  was  massing  troops,  and  Fremont's 
company  moved  to  the  Touloumne  River  and  thence  to 
Mount  Shasta,  "exploring"  as  they  went.  Swinging 
about,  they  kept  moving  in  the  region  of  Sacramento, 
keeping  within  easy  stage  of  Yerba  Buena. 

The  first  clash  with  Mexico  on  the  Rio  Grande  oc- 
curred April  24,  1846.  Of  course  Fremont  did  not 
know  this,  but  he  was  obviously  expecting  it  to  happen. 
They  were  attacked  by  Klamath  Indians.  Basil  Le- 
juenesse,  his  favorite  guide,  was  killed.  Denny,  a  half- 
breed,  and  Crane,  a  Delaware,  also  lost  their  lives. 
May  nth,  they  retaliated  on  the  Klamaths,  and  the 
Delawares  took  a  couple  of  scalps.  The  Klamath  vil- 
lage was  burned.  There  was  more  fighting,  but  Fre- 
mont regained  Sacramento,  and  now  changed  from  ex- 
plorer to  conqueror. 

April  30,  1846,  Consul  Larkin  had  been  advised 
that  the  American  residents  must  prepare  to  face  ex- 
pulsion, and  soon  further  instructions  came  that  they 
were  to  be  driven  out.  Washington  had  not  overlooked 
this  contingency,  and  Commodore  J.  D.  Sloat,  com- 


152  John  Charles  Fremont 

manding  the  Pacific  squadron,  had  been  told  to  meet 
any  hostile  act  by  hoisting  the  American  flag  and  seiz- 
ing the  harbors,  especially  the  very  good  one  at  Yerba 
Buena.  Fremont  had  no  orders.  Sutter  sent  him  word 
that  the  Mexicans  were  raising  the  Indians,  and  the 
settlers  rallied  to  him  for  defense.  A  stronghold  was 
built  on  the  Buttes"  of  Sacramento,  to  which  many 
came,  prepared  for  fighting.  This  Fremont  gratified 
by  sending  a  force  to  "disperse"  the  Indians,  who  had 
done  nothing.  Some  of  them  were  killed,  and  the  rest 
satisfactorily  scattered. 

The  U.  S.  S.  Portsmouth  had  appeared  on  the  scene, 
and  Fremont  was  soon  in  touch  with  the  commander. 
So  far  there  had  been  no  clash  with  the  Mexicans,  but 
Ezekiel  Merritt,  an  American  settler,  held  up  an  of- 
ficer with  a  caravan  of  horses  and  took  the  animals, 
sending  the  lieutenant  back  to  Castro  with  an  insulting 
message.  Emboldened  by  this,  Merritt's  men  now  cap- 
tured Sonoma  and  took  General  Vallejo,  a  rich  and 
agreeable  Mexican,  prisoner,  who,  with  his  brother, 
secretary  and  interpreter,  were  taken  in  duress  to  Fre- 
mont's camp.  This  was  June  14,  1846.  On  the  same 
day  the  adventurers  organized  "The  Republic  of  Cali- 
fornia," and  hoisted  the  celebrated  "Bear"  flag,  made 
from  Miss  Annie  Frisbie's  white  petticoat,  for  which 
they  paid  a  dollar.  A  big  star,  and  the  rude  figure  of 
a  grizzly,  were  daubed  on  it  with  lampblack. 

Sonoma  was  garrisoned  by  eighteen  men  under  Wil- 
liam B.  Ide,  who  issued  a  declaration  of  independence. 
The  Mexicans  retaliated  by  ambushing  and  killing  two 
young  Americans  named  Cowie  and  Fowler.  The  Bear 
flag  followers  avenged  their  deaths  by  killing  eight 


Photograph  by  Brown  Brothers 

JOHN    C     FREMONT 


John  Charles  Fremont  153 

Mexicans  and  rescuing  a  number  of  prisoners.  Three 
messengers  were  shot  out  of  their  saddles  by  Kit  Car- 
son and  the  Delawares.  This  was  Fremont's  first  hand 
in  the  bloody  game.  He  had  sent  his  resignation  in 
blank  to  Benton,  to  be  used  to  exculpate  the  govern- 
ment if  it  disapproved  of  any  of  his  acts.  He  also  mis- 
treated Sutter,  who  had  been  his  friend  and  bene- 
factor, telling  him  he  was  "a  Mexican"  and  would  be 
treated  as  such,  greatly  to  the  good  captain's  distress. 
Indeed,  he  shed  tears. 

Going  thence  to  Sonoma  Fremont  was  joined  by  the 
Bear  party  and  began  a  formal  "conquest"  of  Cali- 
fornia, "cooperating  with  the  U.  S.  Navy,"  as  he  put 
it,  though  the  navy  does  not  seem  to  have  been  aware 
of  the  fact,  nor  did  Fremont  yet  know  war  had  broken 
out  on  the  Rio  Grande.  Sutter's  fort  was  taken  from 
him,  and  one  man  in  the  company,  Risdon  Moore,  who 
ventured  to  object  to  the  proceedings,  was  locked  up 
over  night.  This  gave  him  a  chance  to  reflect,  and  so 
improved  his  loyalty,  that  it  never  again  came  into 
question.  General  Castro  did  not  know  either  that  the 
two  countries  were  at  war,  and  on  June  17,  1846, 
called  for  a  united  front  to  oppose  the  invaders,  but 
reconsidered  expelling  foreigners  so  long  as  they  be- 
haved themselves. 

Fremont,  in  connection  with  the  Bear  party  leaders, 
now  organized  three  companies  of  soldiers,  but  did 
not  assert  any  authority  on  behalf  of  the  United  States. 
He  only  insisted  that  all  things  be  done  regularly. 
Lieut.  C.  W.  Gillespie,  U.  S.  M.  C,  from  the  Ports- 
mouth, co-operated  with  Fremont.  He  had  come  direct 
from  Washington  and  presumably  knew  what  Presi- 


154  John  Charles  Fremont 

dent  Polk  wanted.  Commander  Montgomery  of  the 
Portsmouth,  had  supplied  Fremont  with  powder  for 
"scientific  purposes,"  but  would  give  none  to  the  Bear 
party. 

Commodore  Sloat,  at  Monterey,  had  heard  from 
the  Rio  Grande  on  May  17,  but  did  not  follow  his  in- 
structions. Two  years  before  Commodore  Brown  had 
acted  prematurely  and  had  been  reprimanded.  So  Sloat 
took  no  chances.  He  acted  conservatively  until  July  7, 
1846.  On  that  day  he  took  over  the  Custom  House  and 
annexed  California  to  the  U.  S.  A.  Two  days  later  he 
seized  Yerba  Buena  and  Sonoma,  hauling  down  the 
Bear  flag  forever.  On  the  nth,  to  Sutter's  relief,  the 
Stars  and  Stripes  flew  over  his  fort.  He  fired  the  can- 
non in  his  joy.  Sloat  now  summoned  Fremont  to 
Monterey,  where  the  British  Collingwood  had  just 
arrived.  One  of  her  lieutenants,  Walpole,  has  given 
this  description  of  the  Pathfinder's  arrival: 

"Fremont  rode  ahead,  a  spare,  active  looking  man, 
with  such  an  eye !  He  was  dressed  in  flounce  and  leg- 
gings and  wore  a  felt  hat.  After  him  came  five  Dela- 
ware Indians  who  were  his  bodyguard.  The  rest  of 
them,  many  blacker  than  the  Indians,  rode  two  and 
two,  the  rifle  held  by  one  hand  across  the  pommel  of 
the  saddle." 

Sloat  was  much  disturbed  to  find  that  Fremont  had 
no  orders  from  Washington  and  was  acting  independ- 
ently. He  took  no  further  steps.  The  Congress  now 
came  in  with  Commodore  Robert  F.  Stockton,  who 
was  to  supersede  Sloat.  He  took  charge  of  all  affairs, 
including  Fremont,  who  rather  felt  indisposed  to  sub- 


John  Charles  Fremont  155 

mit  as  an  army  officer,  but  did,  though  it  was  to  cost 
him  his  commission. 

Stockton  summoned  Castro  to  surrender.  He  nat- 
urally declined.  Sloat  started  for  home.  Stockton  ap- 
pointed his  chaplain,  the  Rev.  Walter  Colton,  a  vigor- 
ous personality,  Alcalde  of  Monterey,  and  began  a 
move  to  clear  Southern  California.  The  North  was  all 
in  American  hands.  Fremont  marched  on  Los  Angeles 
by  land,  and  Stockton  proceeded  to  San  Diego  by  sea. 
Soon  all  was  over.  Fremont  was  made  military  gov- 
ernor and  Gillespie,  commander  of  the  Southern  dis- 
trict. The  conquest  was  complete.  Kit  Carson  was  sent 
to  Washington  to  advise  the  Government  of  the  result. 

Meanwhile  the  War  Department  was  sending  Gen. 
Stephen  W.  Kearny  across  the  plains  to  conquer  Cali- 
fornia and  the  adjacent  territory,  en  route.  He  reached 
Warner's  ranch  on  December  2,  1846,  with  a  worn- 
out,  starving  force  and  sent  a  courier  to  Stockton  for 
aid.  Gillespie  marched  at  once  with  food  and  men.  He 
was  waylaid  by  Mexicans,  and  Kearny  came  to  his 
support.  In  a  sharp  skirmish,  eighteen  Americans  lost 
their  lives,  including  two  captains.  Of  the  officers, 
Moore,  Johnston,  Kearny,  Gillespie  and  seventeen 
others  were  wounded.  Carson,  en  route  to  Washing- 
ton, was  hurried  back  to  Stockton  for  more  support. 
This  Stockton  resented,  and  it  led  to  the  subsequent 
unpleasant  feud  between  the  commodore  and  Kearny, 
in  which  Fremont  took  the  navy  end  and  much  dis- 
paraged Kearny.  Stockton,  however,  sent  two  hundred 
sailors  and  marines  to  bring  in  the  exhausted  soldiers. 
This  they  did. 


156  John  Charles  Fremont 

Kearny  took  up  his  headquarters  at  San  Diego  and 
claimed  the  government  of  the  country  under  his  in- 
structions. To  this  Stockton  would  not  accede.  In  Oc- 
tober, word  reached  Fremont  of  his  appointment, 
through  the  efforts  of  his  wife,  as  a  lieutenant-colonel 
of  a  rifle  regiment  in  the  regular  line.  He  became 
active  in  hunting  down  Indians  and  irregulars  who  op- 
posed American  domination,  operating  with  what  be- 
came known  as  the  California  Battalion,  having  no 
assignment  to  command  accompanying  his  position. 
This  frody,  armed  and  accoutred  more  like  hunters  than 
soldiers,  roamed  the  State  in  a  romantic  campaign,  en- 
during much  hardship  and  taking  part  in  numerous 
affrays.  Stockton  and  Kearny  cooperated  in  an  advance 
against  Los  Angeles,  from  which  town  they  dislodged 
the  Mexicans.  January  13,  1847,  Governor  Pico  for- 
mally surrendered  the  forces  of  his  country  to  Free- 
mont,  and  with  it,  the  undisputed  control  of  Cali- 
fornia. This  was  known  as  the  Treaty  of  Couenga. 
Fremont  then  marched  to  Los  Angeles,  reporting  first 
to  Stockton  and  then  to  Kearny.  Both  of  these  gentle- 
men claimed  to  have  orders  to  conquer  and  govern 
California.  Each  proceeded  to  act  independently  of 
the  other,  thus,  when  on  January  16,  1847,  though  an 
officer  of  the  army,  Fremont  declined  to  obey  Kearny, 
a  brigadier-general,  and  cancel  some  orders  from 
Stockton,  Kearny  advised  him  to  reconsider  and  recall 
his  letter  of  refusal.  This  Fremont  would  not  do,  and 
the  deadlock  stood.  For  fifty  days  Fremont's  author- 
ity as  governor  was  recognized  by  all  but  Kearny. 
Hearing  news  of  a  rising,  he  rode  a  hundred  miles 
without  rest  to  warn  Kearny,  who  was  not  grateful, 


John  Charles  Fremont  157 

^         — — —  ' '  ■  1—— — — ■» 

but  having  the  governor  in  his  hands  gave  him  the 
hour  in  which  to  obey  his  commands.  He  agreed  to 
mind.  The  "insurrection"  faded  out.  One  outcome  was 
a  challenge  to  fight  a  duel  with  Col.  Mason,  Kearny's 
aide.  This  the  general  forbade,  and  nothing  came  of 
it  but  further  ill  feeling.  The  one  hundred  mile  ride  was 
regarded  as  a  feat  of  show-off. 

Orders  now  came,  turning  California  over  to 
Kearny.  Fremont  then  expressed  a  desire  to  leave  and 
return  in  his  own  fashion.  This  request  was  denied  and 
he  was  ordered  to  accompany  Kearny,  who  had  been 
summoned  East.  He  kept  himself  and  his  men  apart, 
but  followed  the  same  trail.  Reaching  Fort  Leaven- 
worth on  August  22,  1847,  Fremont  was  ordered  to 
consider  himself  under  arrest  and  to  "repair  to  Wash- 
ington city."  This  he  proceeded  to  do.  At  St.  Louis  he 
was  acclaimed  a  hero  and  offered  a  public  banquet, 
which  he  refused.  He  arrived  at  Washington  on  Sep- 
tember 1 6th,  to  learn  that  his  mother  was  seriously  ill 
at  Aiken,  S.  C.  He  hastened  South,  but  was  several 
hours  too  late  to  see  her  alive. 

Charleston  gave  him  an  ovation,  a  sword  and  a 
gold  mounted  belt.  He  was  the  hero  of  the  hour.  De- 
siring a  prompt  hearing,  he  demanded  an  early  trial 
and  was  put  on  the  carpet  November  2,  1847,  *n 
Washington.  The  charges  were  serious: 

1.  Mutiny. 

2.  Disobedience  of  orders. 

3.  Conduct  prejudicial  to  discipline. 

Fremont's  defense  was  that  the  California  per- 
formance had  been  a  comedy  of  errors,  growing  out 
of  faulty  orders,  and  Kearny's  pretensions.  The  court- 


158  John  Charles  Fremont 

martial  failed  to  take  this  view.  He  was  found  guilty 
on  all  charges  and  sentenced  to  dismissal  from  the 
army!  President  Polk  struck  out  the  count  on  mutiny, 
but  approved  of  the  two  other  findings;  then,  in  view 
of  Fremont's  great  services,  remitted  the  sentence  of 
dismissal.  He  was  instructed  to  resume  his  sword  and 
report  for  duty.  Smarting  under  an  undue  sense  of 
right,  Fremont  declined  to  report  and  sent  in  his  resig- 
nation. Its  acceptance  was  delayed  until  March  15, 
1848.  That  he  had  fallen  between  two  millstones  seems 
to  have  been  his  chief  fault.  That  he  was  instinctively 
insubordinate  is  also  beyond  question.  The  army  was 
no  place  for  him.  Beside,  he  was  only  thirty-two,  and 
had  been  fed  up  on  adulation. 

Freed  thus  dishonorably  from  the  military  thrall, 
Fremont  began  to  look  about  for  himself.  In  the  in- 
terim the  Mormon,  James  Wilson  Marshall,  found 
gold  on  January  24,  1848,  at  Sutter's  mill,  while  en- 
larging the  race,  and  the  eyes  of  the  world  turned 
toward  what  now  proved  to  be  a  land  of  gold.  Pro- 
ceeding to  St.  Louis,  Fremont  began  preparations  for 
a  fourth  expedition,  using  his  own  means,  and  those  of 
admirers  to  equip  it.  Mrs.  Fremont,  in  the  meantime, 
journeyed  to  San  Francisco  via  Panama,  the  enterpris- 
ing steamship  companies  having  begun  to  transport  the 
tide  of  gold  seekers  by  that  unhealthy  route.  Fremont 
made  his  way  along  the  Kansas  river  to  Bent's  Fort, 
which  he  reached  on  November  17,  1848.  Thence  he 
proposed  to  pass  the  mountains,  though  informed  that 
the  snow  lay  deeper  than  usual.  He  had  crossed  be- 
fore in  winter  and  declined  to  be  dismayed.  Carson 
was  not  with  him,  and  his  men  were  bold,  but  not  ex^ 


John  Charles  Fremont  159 

perienced,  as  had  been  some  of  the  others.  Pueblo 
was  made  the  starting  point  over  the  Rockies.  From 
there  on  they  floundered  in  deep  drifts  and  braved 
blizzards.  Many  were  frostbitten,  and  some  of  the 
animals  froze  to  death.  Food  gave  out  and  men  began 
to  die.  Twelve  succumbed  and  cannibalism  was  seri- 
ously considered  as  a  means  of  saving  the  remaining 
lives.  Fremont  himself  pressed  forward  with  a  few  of 
the  strongest  and  on  January  25,  1849,  succeeded  in 
getting  some  succor  to  the  sufferers  in  the  snow.  He 
then  drew  them  together  and  crept  down  to  the  Pueblo 
of  Taos,  where  Kit  Carson  welcomed  the  poor 
wretches  and  restored  them  to  life  with  food  and 
warmth. 

Fremont  blamed  "Bill"  Williams,  a  guide  taken  on 
at  Pueblo,  for  the  disaster,  but  it  would  plainly  ap- 
pear that  the  fault  was  due  to  his  own  vainglory.  The 
Mexican  War  ended  with  the  Treaty  of  Guadeloupe- 
Hidalgo,  May  30,  1850.  Senator  Benton's  dream  of 
"manifest  destiny"  had  come  true,  much  of  it  at  the 
hands  of  his  son-in-law.  The  United  States  ruled  the 
continent  from  sea  to  sea ! 

When  recuperated,  Fremont  proceeded  to  Calh 
fornia  by  the  Southern  route.  His  wife  awaited  him  in 
San  Francisco,  and  they  set  up  here  a  California 
home.  He  had  bought,  before  his  previous  return  East, 
the  Mexican  rights  in  a  great  grant  of  land  called  the 
Mariposa  estate,  before  the  discovery  of  gold.  This 
he  now  proceeded  to  develop.  He  paid  the  owner's 
price,  subject  to  confirmation  by  the  new  Government. 
The  presence  of  gold  gave  it  a  fabulous  value,  and  led 
to  difficulties.  He  had  to  face  constant  efforts  to  break 


160  John  Charles  Fremont 

his  ownership,  to  fight  claim  jumpers  and  to  straighten 
out  mistakes  he  had  himself  made  in  marketing  min- 
ing rights.  Though  he  got  much  money  out  of  the  prop- 
erty it  did  him  little  good. 

The  fame  acquired  by  Fremont  as  an  explorer  and 
the  "conqueror"  of  California  led  to  political  prom- 
inence. The  land  of  gold  was  admitted  to  Statehood 
on  September  8,  1850.  Fremont  and  W.  M.  Gwin  ap- 
peared in  Washington  as  its  Senators.  He  unluckily 
drew  the  short  term,  which  lasted  but  a  year.  He  was 
defeated  for  re-election  in  185 1.  After  144  ballots  had 
failed  to  select  anyone,  the  election  went  over  for  a 
year.  Fremont  was  not  again  a  candidate,  but  devoted 
himself  to  the  development  of  his  Mariposa  estate,  ac- 
cumulating thereby,  troubles  that  were  to  follow  him 
through  life.  He  sold  some  gold  claims  through  an 
agent,  David  Hoffman,  in  London,  and  later,  with 
Thomas  Denny  Sargent,  engineered  a  large  transac- 
tion involving  the  entire  property  for  $1,000,000. 
Sargent  also  began  to  unload  in  London  at  a  huge 
advance,  and  the  claims  conflicting,  Fremont's  name 
became  soiled.  The  refusal  of  the  Government  to 
authenticate  his  rights  added  to  the  confusion. 

Visiting  London  in  1852,  Fremont  was  arrested 
for  fraud  and  kept  in  jail  overnight.  George  Peabody, 
the  philanthropist,  bailed  him  out.  The  case  grew  out 
of  unpaid  drafts  drawn  on  the  State  Department  for 
supplies  in  1847,  which  were  not  paid  for  lack  of 
funds,  and  the  paper  had  fallen  into  British  hands, 
which  took  this  way  to  collect.  The  matter  was  some- 
how settled,  but  remains  a  smudge  on  the  acquisition 
of  California.  After  a  visit  to  Paris,  he  returned  to 


John  Charles  Fremont  161 

Washington,  and  organized  his  last  and  most  unfor- 
tunate expedition.  This  was  without  Government  sup- 
port, Jefferson  Davis,  Secretary  of  War,  frowning  on 
Fremont,  who  had  stood  for  non-slavery  in  California. 
Davis  sent  Capt.  J.  W.  Gunnison  out  under  Govern- 
ment auspices.  He  was  killed  in  Utah,  whether  by  In- 
dians, or  at  Mormon  instance,  was  never  really  known. 

Fremont's  party  suffered  severely.  One  man  lost  his 
life  and  the  others  were  nearly  frozen  to  death  in  the 
mountain  snows.  Food  gave  out  and  mules  had  to  be 
eaten.  Finally,  on  February  8,  1854,  they  straggled 
into  the  Mormon  town  of  Parowan,  where  the  kind 
settlers  nursed  them  back  to  health.  S.  N.  Carvalho, 
the  photographer,  father  of  S.  S.  Carvalho,  well 
known  as  a  journalist  in  New  York,  made  his  way  to 
Salt  Lake  City  and  by  painting  pictures  of  Brigham 
Young's  wives,  procured  money  enough  to  get  back  to 
Baltimore,  whence  he  came.  Fremont  returned  to  San 
Francisco,  where  he  was  royally  welcomed. 

Coming  East  with  his  family  in  1855,  Fremont 
planned  a  history  of  his  travels.  George  W.  Childs, 
later  publisher  of  the  Philadelphia  Ledger ;  contracted 
to  print  the  work.  It  was  never  written,  politics  inter- 
rupting authorship. 

The  newly  contrived  Republican  party,  constructed 
by  Free  Staters  and  Know-Nothings  from  the  wreck 
of  the  Whigs,  was  proposing  to  make  its  entrance  into 
national  politics.  The  Kansas  dispute  was  on  and  Fre- 
mont, invited  to  speak  in  New  York,  wrote  in  declin- 
ing, a  keynote  inflexibly  opposing  the  extension  of 
slavery.  The  Republican  party,  in  convention  at  Phila- 
delphia on  June  17,  18  and  19,  1856,  selected  him  as 


162  John  Charles  Fremont 

its  candidate  for  President,  after  the  American  custom 
of  drafting  signboards  instead  of  statesmen.  William 
L.  Dayton  of  New  Jersey,  was  the  tail  of  the  ticket. 

One  of  the  novelties  of  the  campaign  was  the  re- 
fusal of  Thomas  H.  Benton  to  support  his  son-in-law. 
He  stood  sturdily  for  James  Buchanan.  He,  himself, 
ran  for  governor  of  Missouri  on  the  Democratic 
ticket.  The  Democrats  had  also  to  oppose  Millard 
Fillmore,  the  former  President,  named  by  the  fading 
Whigs.  The  campaign  was  prosecuted  with  great 
vigor,  but  Buchanan  won  and  postponed  secession  for 
four  years.  Fremont  received  1,341,264  votes,  with 
114  electors,  to  1,927,995  for  Buchanan,  who  had  124 
electors.  Fillmore  polled  934,816  votes,  but  gained 
only  8  electors.  Fremont  was  still  young — but  forty- 
three. 

Fremont  had  sought,  by  filing  new  claims,  to 
straighten  out  the  Mariposa  grant.  These  were  disap- 
proved by  Caleb  Cushing,  Attorney  General  of  the 
United  States.  Carried  to  court,  they  were  confirmed 
in  time  to  afford  some  balm  for  his  defeat.  Claim  jump- 
ers had  to  be  ousted  and  in  the  clean-up,  some  were 
killed.  Not  until  1859  did  he  get  all  his  titles  cleared. 
The  yield  from  the  mines  rose  to  $100,000  a  month. 
The  estate  was  a  great  treasure  trove,  though  little  of 
its  value  remained  long  in  its  owner's  hands. 

Lincoln's  election  in  i860  set  the  signals  for  war. 
In  the  spring  of  1861,  Mariposa  matters  took  Fre- 
mont to  London.  When  Sumter  was  fired  upon  in 
April,  he  was  designated  to  buy  supplies  abroad.  This 
service  was  brief.  Returning  in  July,  he  was  appointed 
major-general  and  given  command  of  the  Department 


John  Charles  Fremont 163 

of  Missouri.  It  will  be  recalled  that  his  rank  on  leav- 
ing the  regular  army  was  that  of  lieutenant-colonel. 
He  had,  however,  enjoyed  no  military  experience,  un- 
less the  brief  campaign  in  California,  which  resulted  in 
his  downfall,  can  be  called  such.  The  great  promotion 
was  therefore  purely  political,  and  unfortunate  in  its 
consequences. 

Fremont's  first  step  was  to  declare  martial  law. 
This,  many  leaders  on  his  own  side  regarded  as  un- 
wise, Frank  P.  Blair,  in  particular,  proving  the  most 
critical.  Blair  was  a  member  of  Congress  and,  located 
in  Washington,  busied  himself  to  destroy  Fremont. 
It  is  now  plain  that,  however  bombastical  the  general 
may  have  been  in  his  proclamations,  and  military  in 
his  overbearing,  he  sensed  the  true  situation  more  truly 
than  Blair.  He  did  not  blunder  in  much  that  he  under- 
took. But  an  agreement  as  to  non-combatants  with 
Stirling  Price  was  regarded  as  beyond  his  province, 
while  the  great  outcry  came  when,  on  August  30,  1861, 
he  moved  to  free  the  slaves  in  his  territory,  proclaim- 
ing as  follows: 

The  property,  real  and  personal,  of  all  persons  in  the  State 
of  Missouri  who  shall  take  up  arms  against  the  United  States, 
or  who  shall  be  directly  proven  to  have  taken  an  active  part 
with  their  enemies  in  the  field,  is  declared  to  be  confiscated  to 
the  public  use,  and  their  slaves,  if  they  have  any,  are  hereby 
declared  freemen. 

This  was  going  too  fast  for  President  Lincoln  who 
requested  a  modification  of  the  proclamation  that 
would  not  raise  the  slavery  question.  Fremont  declin- 
ing to  do  it,  the  President  reversed  the  order.  Fremont 


164  John  Charles  Fremont 

could  not  see  how  a  confiscated  piece  of  human  prop- 
erty could  be  consistently  kept  in  bondage.  He  was  ac- 
cordingly removed  from  his  command  on  charges  of 
incompetency,  which  no  one  took  the  trouble  to  prove. 
He  had  lasted  exactly  one  hundred  days — the  fatal 
Napoleonic  period.  The  relief  came  on  October  24, 
1862.  This,  of  course,  brought  an  end  to  whatever 
plans  he  might  have  had,  the  chief  of  which  was  a 
descent  to  New  Orleans  by  gradual  steps,  clearing  the 
country  as  he  went.  This  program  was  warmly  en- 
dorsed by  Horace  Greeley. 

Greeley  believed  in  Fremont.  Writing  to  Congress- 
man (later  Vice-President)  Schuyler  Colfax,  he  said: 
"I  want  to  say  to  the  President  (Lincoln)  that  I  ar- 
dently hope  he  may  give  Fremont  a  chance.  Let  him 
take  Schofield's  and  Blunt's  forces  and  clean  out  Ar- 
kansas, Louisiana  and  Texas  of  Rebellion  and  slavery. 
Give  him  30,000  men,  well-equipped,  and  he  will  take 
those  three  States  by  March.  That  will  cut  off  the 
Rebel  supply  of  beef  and  conscripts." 

This  was  never  tried.  Fremont's  foes  were  too  pow- 
erful. They  had  no  notion  of  letting  him  grow  to  Pres- 
idential size  again.  His  vanity  gave  them  the  chance  to 
completely  extinguish  him.  He  had  surrounded  him- 
self with  a  gorgeously  clad  staff,  and  built  up  a  large 
military  establishment.  "Putting  on  airs"  seems  to  have 
been  his  chief  offense.  This  is  something  no  true  Amer- 
ican can  stand.  His  chapeau  was  rather  overloaded 
with  plumes,  and  his  head  correspondingly  enlarged. 
There  was  no  free  and  easy  entrance  to  his  presence, 
and  the  formalities  gave  great  offense. 

The  anti-slavery  element  made  such  a  row,  endors- 


John  Charles  Fremont  165 

ing  his  emancipation  action,  that  he  was  given  a  com- 
mand in  the  Shenandoah  Valley,  where  he  had  Stone- 
wall Jackson  to  contend  with.  Here  he  was  afforded 
the  rather  inferior  assistance  of  Carl  Schurz;  his 
troops  were  bad  and  wretchedly  equipped.  Indeed, 
there  was  no  honest  attempt  to  give  him  a  fair  show. 
Then,  to  crown  all,  John  Pope  was  set  over  him  as 
commander  of  the  Army  of  Virginia.  He  was  a  junior 
and  a  disagreeable  person  to  boot.  Fremont  asked  to 
be  relieved,  and  the  war  saw  no  more  of  him. 

From  this  time  on,  Fremont's  career  was  a  fading 
one.  The  Mariposa  estate,  now  incorporated,  renewed 
its  troubles.  Required  to  pay  $300,000  in  gold  to  re- 
deem control,  Fremont  could  not  raise  the  $800,000 
currency  required  to  make  good.  On  top  of  all,  the 
Government  confiscated  ten  acres  of  valuable  land  at 
Black  Point,  San  Francisco  Bay,  for  fortification  pur- 
poses, and  never  paid  for  it.  June  24,  1864,  he  resigned 
from  the  army.  A  convention  at  Cleveland  nominated 
him  for  President  to  run  against  Lincoln,  but  he  with- 
drew, the  President  paying  for  it  with  the  scalp  of 
Postmaster  General  Montgomery  Blair.  When  the 
war  closed  he  sought  employment  at  railroad  promot- 
ing, becoming  president  of  a  projected  Memphis,  El 
Paso  and  Pacific  railway. 

He  then  established  a  home  on  the  Hudson,  near 
Tarrytown.  One  son,  Francis,  went  to  West  Point,  and 
another,  John  Charles,  to  the  Naval  Academy.  The 
railway  ventures  failed,  and  the  Tarrytown  home  was 
lost  in  the  wreck.  The  Fremonts  went  abroad.  He  was 
prosecuted  for  fraud  in  connection  with  unpaid  rail- 
road bonds  in  Paris,  fined  and  sentenced  to  a  term  in 


166  John  Charles  Fremont 

prison.  This  he  escaped  by  quitting  the  country  in 
time.  Pitying  his  misfortunes,  President  Rutherford 
B.  Hayes,  in  1878,  appointed  him  governor  of  Ari- 
zona. At  the  end  of  his  term  the  weary  Pathfinder 
came  back  to  the  East  and  undertook  the  long  delayed 
memoirs  promised  George  W.  Childs.  Only  one 
volume  was  completed.  Residing  briefly  at  Point  Pleas- 
ant, New  Jersey,  he  was  taken  with  pneumonia,  in 
1887,  and  made  a  poor  recovery.  His  physician  urged 
his  return  to  California,  and  in  December  he  was  re- 
moved to  Los  Angeles. 

Times  continued  hard  with  him  until  April,  1890. 
Congress  then  placed  him  on  the  retired  list  as  a 
major-general.  He  did  not  have  long  to  enjoy  the  re- 
lief, dying  in  New  York,  July  13,  1890,  having  lived 
seventy-seven  years.  He  lies  at  rest  in  Rockland  Cem- 
etery, Piermont-on-the-Hudson,  in  a  lot  donated  to 
boom  that  enterprise,  under  a  monument  built  by  the 
State  of  New  York.  He  could  find  paths  for  others,  but 
none  for  himself. 


IX 
STEPHEN  A.  DOUGLAS 

THE    "LITTLE   GIANT"    OF   ILLINOIS 

THE  late  Albert  J.  Beveridge,  former  Senator 
from  Indiana,  while  preparing  to  write  his 
life  of  Abraham  Lincoln  remarked  to  the  au- 
thor that  the  more  he  read  up  on  Lincoln  the  higher 
his  opinion  became  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas.  This  has 
been  my  own  experience. 

It  must  be  remembered  in  justice  that  Douglas'  idea 
was  definite,  workable  and  Democratic,  while  Lincoln 
and  his  party  had  no  plan  for  dealing  with  slavery  be- 
yond preventing  its  expansion.  Lincoln  deplored  slav- 
ery. His  party  gained  its  strength  from  those  who  op- 
posed its  extension,  and  desired  its  abolition,  but  the 
platform  of  i860  contains  no  word  of  comfort  for  the 
slave. 

The  compromise  of  1850  stopped  the  progress  of 
the  institution  into  new  territory.  Its  repeal  in  1854 
brought  the  question  to  the  front  again.  Douglas 
thought  in  leaving  it  open  to  the  people  of  the  West, 
he  could  by  ballot  settle  what  finally  fell  to  the  arbi- 
tration of  the  sword.  Most  politicians  preach  faith 
in  the  people.  Few  of  them  have  any.  Douglas  did.  His 
Republican  opponents  had  none.  Neither  did  the  pro- 
slavery  factions  of  the  North  and  South.  While  the 
Republicans  had  no  program,  the  precise  followers  of 

167 


168  Stephen  A.  Douglas 

the  Constitution  had  no  remedy.  Here  was  where 
Douglas  stepped  in. 

Let  us  look  at  his  beginnings.  Stephen  Arnold 
Douglas  came  from  Scotch  stock,  as  his  name  implies, 
and  from  the  English  Arnolds  of  Rhode  Island.  He 
was  born  at  Brandon,  Vermont,  April  23,  18 13.  His 
father,  a  physician,  bore  the  same  name.  Sarah  Fish 
was  the  boy's  mother.  The  Douglas  grandsire  fought 
in  the  Revolution  from  Cambridge  to  Yorktown.  Dr. 
Douglas  died  when  his  son  was  but  three  years  old. 
The  marriage  of  an  uncle  who  had  cared  for  Stephen's 
welfare,  set  him  on  his  own  resources.  His  first  essay 
at  making  a  living  was  as  apprentice  to  a  cabinet 
maker  in  Middlebury,  Vt.  Then  his  mother  remarried, 
and  the  step-father  took  the  family  to  Canandaigua, 
New  York.  Here  Stephen  had  a  chance  to  attend  an 
academy  briefly.  Next  he  fell  into  the  tide  that  was 
flowing  West.  In  November,  1833,  ne  reached  Illinois, 
with  no  capital  beyond  an  active  mind.  The  days  were 
disputatious  and,  without  a  sheepskin,  he  took  up  the 
practice  of  law  in  the  crude  courts,  held  by  Justices  of 
the  Peace,  where  the  "tongueiest"  orator  was  most 
apt  to  win  his  case.  He  won  many  of  them. 

This  led  him  into  politics  on  the  side  of  Andrew 
Jackson  against  the  aristocratic  Whigs.  His  first  stay 
was  in  Winchester,  but  in  six  months  he  established 
himself  in  Jacksonville,  which  was  thereafter  to  be 
his  home.  It  was  the  seat  of  Morgan  County,  and 
Douglas  soon  acquired  a  commanding  place  in  State 
politics,  which  he  never  lost.  Here  he  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  and  hung  out  his  shingle  in  March,  1834, 
though  not  yet  twenty-one. 


Photograph  by  Brown  Brothers 

STEPHEN    A.    DOUGLAS 


Stephen  A.  Douglas 169 

In  January,  1835,  the  Legislature  deposed  John  J. 
Hardin  from  the  position  of  Attorney  General  and 
gave  it  to  Douglas  by  a  majority  of  four.  He  was  then 
only  a  few  months  over  age.  He  became  a  member  of 
the  Legislature  in  1836,  and  at  once  the  Democratic 
leader.  The  youth  had  a  genius  for  politics. 

President  Van  Buren  made  him  Register  of  the 
land  office  in  April,  1837.  This  took  him  to  Spring- 
field, where  he  began  to  face  Abraham  Lincoln.  Doug- 
las ran  for  Congress  in  1840  and  was  beaten  by  but 
thirty-five  votes  in  36,000  cast.  The  Democratic  State 
ticket  pulled  through.  Douglas  was  appointed  Secre- 
tary of  State,  from  which  office  he  was  elevated  to  the 
Supreme  Court  bench,  February  15,  1841,  at  the  ripe 
age  of  twenty-eight.  The  Illinois  part  of  the  republic 
was  indeed  Opportunity!  Besides  all  this  he  was  a  so- 
cial lion  in  Springfield  and  flirted  with  Miss  Mary 
Todd,  who  became  Mrs.  Abraham  Lincoln. 

The  following  December,  1842,  he  lost  the  United 
States  senatorship  by  five  votes,  though  uncfcr  legal 
age  for  the  office.  The  next  turn  of  the  wheel  sent  him 
to  Congress,  by  a  plurality  of  461.  He  had  then  been 
ten  years  in  the  State,  and  held  a  record  for  office 
filling.  Joining  the  Twenty-eighth  Congress  in  Decem- 
ber, 1843,  ne  began  his  national  career,  having  passed 
thirty.  Thus,  but  a  youth,  already  dubbed  "Little 
Giant,"  Douglas  came  into  the  mighty  company  led 
by  Webster,  Clay,  Calhoun  and  their  kind.  Congress 
and  Senate  were  great  debating  societies.  The  com- 
promise of  1820  had  been  in  force  for  twenty-three 
years,  staying  the  march  of  slavery,  but  concentrating 
its  iniquities.  Tariff  discrimination  had  almost  severed 


170  Stephen  A.  Douglas 

the  South  a  decade  before.  North  and  South  bristled  at 
each  other.  Yet  neither  was  disposed  to  face  fairly 
the  reasons  for  its  differences. 

The  Mormon  Colony  established  at  Nauvoo,  Illi- 
nois, by  Joseph  Smith,  was  in  Douglas'  district.  He 
made  friends  with  the  Prophet  and  his  election  to 
Congress  was  credited  to  Mormon  votes.  He  was  often 
dubbed  "the  Mormon  Congressman."  Smith  was  the 
only  man  of  vision  in  the  United  States  at  the  time. 
He  had  prophesied  in  1839  that  a  war  between  the 
states  would  break  out  in  i860  at  Charleston,  South 
Carolina,  if  steps  were  not  taken  to  relieve  the  slave 
pressure.  His  own  scheme  was  to  annex  Texas,  "liber- 
ate the  slaves  in  two  or  three  states"  and  send  them 
thereto,  indemnifying  their  owners.  Then  he  proposed 
to  take  over  Mexico  by  force  and  press  the  blacks  on 
to  that  region,  where  as  he  put  it,  "all  colors  are 
alike."  Further,  on  March  26,  1844,  ne  petitioned 
Congress  to  be  allowed  to  enlist  an  army  of  100,000 
men  "to  extend  protection  to  persons  wishing  to  settle 
Oregon"  and  to  "extend  protection  to  the  people  of 
Texas."  He  meant  to  take  California,  believing  Eng- 
land had  designs  upon  it.  Elder  Orson  Hyde  repre- 
sented Smith  at  Washington  and  reported:  "Judge 
Douglas  has  been  quite  ill,  but  he  is  just  recovered.  He 
will  help  all  he  can."  On  April  26th  he  reported  fur- 
ther: "We  have  this  day  had  a  long  conversation  with 
Judge  Douglas.  He  is  right  for  Oregon  and  Califor- 
nia. He  said  he  would  resign  his  seat  in  Congress  if  he 
could  command  the  force  that  Mr.  Smith  could,  and 
would  be  on  the  march  for  that  country  in  a  month.  'In 
five  years,'  said  he,  'a  noble  state  might  be  formed  and 


Stephen  A.  Douglas  171 

then  if  they  would  not  receive  us  into  the  Union  we 
would  have  a  government  of  our  own.'  " 

Smith's  dreams  of  empire  came  to  an  end  with  his 
murder  by  a  mob  at  Carthage,  Illinois,  June  27,  1864. 
The  Mormons  had  swung  their  votes  from  side  to 
side  in  Illinois  and  lost  political  support.  It  became 
necessary  for  them  to  move  on.  Governor  Ford  ap- 
pointed Douglas,  John  J.  Hardin,  W.  B.  Warren  and 
J.  A.  McDougall  a  commission  to  arrange  for  their 
departure.  This  was  brought  about  by  an  agreement 
with  Brigham  Young  made  on  October  1,  1845,  when 
in  strange  fulfillment  of  Smith's  desire,  the  United 
States  moved  on  Mexico  and  California.  In  1846  the 
trekking  Mormons  were  called  upon  to  furnish  a 
battalion,  with  the  promise  that  they  should  end  their 
march  in  California.  Young  agreed  and  the  men  en- 
listed. Douglas  had  a  friendly  hand  in  this.  In  1856, 
however,  when  Young  threatened  war,  Douglas  made 
a  speech  at  Springfield  in  which  he  denounced  Mor- 
monism  as  "the  loathsome  ulcer  on  the  body  politic." 
His  name  and  his  forgotten  friendliness  to  the  sect 
were  perpetuated  in  Fort  Douglas,  the  United  States 
Military  post  overlooking  Lake  City. 

But  to  return:  Texas  had  become  an  unsuccessful 
republic  and  came  rapping  at  the  door.  The  compro- 
mise of  1820  only  kept  slavery  below  36:30;  the 
North  had  not  reckoned  on  any  further  growth  of  its 
power.  It  looked  askance  at  the  proposition.  Polk's 
victory  in  1844  put  the  Democrats — and  the  South — 
again  in  control.  Texas  came  into  the  Union,  bringing 
with  it  the  Mexican  War.  To  keep  it  company  there 
was   fair   prospect   of   an   armed   clash   with   Great 


172  Stephen  A.  Douglas 

Britain  on  the  Oregon  boundary.  "Fifty-four  forty  or 
fight"  was  a  lusty  slogan.  The  Administration  pre- 
ferred to  fight  Mexico  and  compromised  with  England. 
Texas,  which  had  been  free  under  Mexico,  became 
slave  under  the  Stars  and  Stripes.  In  1847  Illinois  pro- 
moted Douglas  to  the  Senate  where  he  soon  loomed 
large. 

Zachary  Taylor  of  Louisiana,  who  won  the  Presi- 
dency in  1848,  though  a  native  of  Virginia,  set  his 
face  firmly  against  the  extension  of  slavery.  He  took 
his  guidance  from  William  H.  Seward  and  proclaimed 
that  there  was  no  need  of  a  new  party  to  settle  the 
question.  Though  John  C.  Calhoun  insisted  that  the 
Constitution  followed  the  flag,  and  that  the  Constitu- 
tion authorized  slavery,  California  was  too  rich  to 
be  rebuffed  when  it  insisted  on  coming  in  free. 

The  territory  newly  acquired  by  conquest  contained 
Arizona,  New  Mexico,  Nevada  and  Utah,  in  the  last 
of  which  the  Mormons,  under  Brigham  Young,  had 
established  a  considerable  colony.  The  slave  power  ex- 
tended its  hands  toward  them.  Unfortunately,  the 
issue  was  not  partisan,  but  sectional,  and  disruptive  of 
both  parties,  though  in  the  contention  the  Whigs  were 
the  chief  losers.  The  so-called  compromise  bills  of 
1850  now  passed.  They  left  the  question  of  slave  ex- 
tension open  in  the  territories  but  accepted  California 
under  its  own  mandate  of  freedom.  Bitter  debates 
resulted  from  the  controversy,  out  of  which  Douglas 
became  eminent.  Senator  Jefferson  Davis  of  Missis- 
sippi was  his  chief  opponent. 

The  North  accepted  the  compromise  and  breathed 
easier  for  the  moment.  Daniel  Webster  hailed  its  enact- 


Stephen  A.  Douglas  173 

ment  as  a  "day  of  rejoicing."  Henry  Clay  called  it  "a 
triumph  for  the  Union,  for  harmony  and  accord." 
Douglas  felt  a  sense  of  exaltation.  "No  man  and  no 
party  has  acquired  a  triumph  except  the  party  friendly 
to  the  Union"  was  his  dictum. 

Douglas  now  became  a  candidate  for  President  in 
the  Democratic  convention  that  nominated  Franklin 
Pierce  of  New  Hampshire,  at  Baltimore,  June  i,  1852. 
His  highest  vote  was  but  33.  Only  two  of  these  came 
from  the  South.  Before  election  day  both  Clay  and 
Webster  passed  from  the  scene  and  the  Senate  beheld 
thereafter  the  strivings  of  much  smaller  men.  Doug- 
las kept  his  seat,  being  re-elected  for  six  years  in  Janu- 
ary >  1^S3-  Pierce,  chosen  President,  accepted  the  view 
that  the  Constitution  upheld  slavery  and  pushed  the 
question  to  one  side,  where  it  declined  to  stay. 

Besides  the  ordinary  impetus  for  settlements  that 
comes  with  the  opening  of  new  lands,  the  railroad 
builders  had  their  eyes  on  the  Kansas-Nebraska  ter- 
ritory. Douglas  had  been  active  in  building  the  first 
line  in  Illinois,  from  Meredicia  to  Springfield.  It  ran 
through  Jacksonville,  where  he  resided.  Asa  Whit- 
ney had  asked  for  a  land  grant  sixty  miles  wide  from 
Lake  Michigan  to  the  Oregon  shore,  as  the  basis  for 
financing  a  transcontinental  line.  He  was  a  resident 
of  Quincy,  Illinois.  Before  the  discovery  of  gold  in 
California,  the  Oregon  country  was  an  objective — due 
to  the  border  dispute  with  England.  The  Mexican 
War,  and  the  settlement  of  the  Oregon  boundary, 
ended  interest  in  that,  but  the  acquisition  of  Califor- 
nia, and  the  discovery  of  gold,  renewed  the  demand 
for  a  Pacific  railroad.  The  South,  with  an  eye  to  its 


174 Stephen  A.  Douglas 

special  interests,  urged  a  line  westward  from  Mem- 
phis. Growing  Chicago  countered  with  agitation  for 
one,  via  Council  Bluffs.  Here  Douglas'  interests  be- 
came involved.  His  share,  therefore,  in  Kansas- 
Nebraska  legislation  had  something  more  than  politics 
behind  it. 

South  and  North  each  sought  to  control  the  highway 
from  East  to  West.  After  the  passage  of  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  bill,  at  the  next  session  of  Congress,  January 
5,  1855,  Douglas  introduced  a  measure  to  provide 
for  three  roads  to  the  Pacific — one  from  Texas,  one 
from  Missouri  or  Iowa,  one  from  Minnesota — routes 
that  have  since  been  covered.  He  passed  the  measure 
through  the  Senate,  but  Southern  influences  killed  it 
in  the  House,  holding  that  Eastern  money  would 
dominate  the  two  Northern  routes.  Thus,  the  real 
underlying  factor  was  profits,  while  the  South,  by  in- 
voking war,  lost  its  financial  as  well  as  its  political 
power. 

Douglas  was  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Ter- 
ritories of  the  Senate  and  on  January  4,  1854,  in  a 
report  from  that  body,  evolved  his  celebrated  doctrine 
of  popular  sovereignty,  which  was  to  wreck  the  Mis- 
souri Compromise.  With  it  came  an  act  admitting  Ne- 
braska as  a  State,  providing  that  it  should  come  into 
the  Union,  "with  or  without  slavery/'  as  its  Consti- 
tution might  prescribe  at  the  time  of  admission.  This 
was  throwing  wide  open  to  popular  choice  territory 
north  of  36:30,  that  had  been  specifically  closed  by 
Congress  in  1820.  The  Senator  tried  to  justify  his 
course  as  one  that  repealed  both  guarantee  and  pro- 
hibition, each  of  which  he  held  were  unconstitutional 


Stephen  A.  Douglas  175 

and  wrong  in  principle.  With  rare  naivete,  he  argued 
that  the  dividing  line  was  unjust  to  the  people  of  the 
North,  as  it  forbade  their  holding  slaves,  while  grant- 
ing the  right  to  those  of  the  South.  This  sophism  hardly 
appeased  those  who  had  heard  him  declare  in  1850, 
that  the  Missouri  Compromise  was  "canonized  in 
the  hearts  of  the  American  people"  and  that  "no  ruth- 
less hand  would  ever  be  reckless  enough  to  disturb  it." 
Yet,  here  he  was  now  supplying  the  "ruthless  hand" 
himself!  No  wonder  the  country  stood  amazed.  The 
North  rose  in  almost  one  body.  Press  and  pulpit  raged. 
Douglas  was  denounced  as  a  Judas,  and  a  little  Ohio 
town  sent  him  thirty  pieces  of  silver!  His  own  State 
burnt  him  in  effigy  and  threatened  him  with  lynching. 
He  had  unwittingly  torn  the  situation  open,  for  what- 
ever motive,  and  the  consequences  were  direful  to  the 
land. 

The  proposition  suited  neither  North  nor  South.  On 
January  16th,  Senator  Archibald  Dixon,  of  Kentucky, 
introduced  a  bill  to  repeal  the  Missouri  Compromise. 
This  Douglas  accepted  and  on  January  24th,  reported 
his  bill  anew,  with  a  provision  for  repealing  the  com- 
promise, aiming  it  would  appear  to  let  the  slave  powers 
capture  Kansas,  leaving  Nebraska  free,  assuming  the 
North  would  populate  it,  while  Missouri  grabbed 
Kansas.  After  a  memorable  struggle  the  measure  passed 
both  Senate  and  House.  President  Pierce  signed  it 
May  30,  1854. 

The  term  of  James  Shields,  who  was  to  have  the 
distinction  of  serving  three  states  in  the  Senate,  one 
of  which  was  Illinois,  ran  out  and  a  Legislature  to  fill 
it  was  to  be  elected  in  1854.  Shields  was  a  candidate 


176  Stephen  A.  Douglas 

for  re-election  and  Douglas  supported  him  heartily. 
The  Legislature  rejected  Shields  and  the  Senatorship 
went  to  Lyman  Trumbull,  a  Democrat  of  a  different 
type  from  either  Shields  or  Douglas.  Once,  during 
the  campaign,  the  latter  met  Abraham  Lincoln  in 
joint  debate.  From  that  time  on  they  were  arra"yed 
against  each  other,  Lincoln  becoming  the  leader  of 
the  new  Republican  Party  that  was  fast  replacing  the 
fading  Whigs.  The  Kansas-Nebraska  troubles,  thus 
unloosed  by  Douglas  ran  their  course  of  bloodshed  and 
passion.  James  Buchanan  was  elected  President,  with 
the  expectation  that  he  would  allay  the  turmoil.  It 
turned  out  just  the  reverse. 

With  inconceivable  folly,  as  it  now  appears,  the 
slave  forces  seized  upon  the  case  of  one  Dred  Scott, 
chattel  of  an  estate,  who,  considering  himself  free  by 
reason  of  residence  in  Illinois,  where  he  had  been 
voluntarily  carried  by  his  owner,  was  re-enslaved  in 
Missouri,  whither  he  returned  under  the  impression 
that  he  was  safe,  as  affording  opportunity  to  deal  both 
Douglas  and  abolition  a  telling  blow.  The  case  had 
been  in  the  courts  for  years,  without  a  decision,  and 
was  brought  to  life  in  the  U.  S.  Supreme  Court,  un- 
questionably by  connivance  with  Buchanan,  who  was 
close  to  Roger  Taney,  the  chief  justice.  Public  ex- 
pectations were  aroused,  and  Buchanan,  in  his  first 
inaugural,  expressed  the  hope  that  whatever  the  de- 
cision might  be  it  would  be  accepted  and  obeyed.  Two 
days  after  Mr.  Buchanan  took  office,  on  March  6, 
1857,  Taney  handed  down  his  edict.  It  was  that  States 
arose  from  territories,  and  territories  were  created 
by  Congress,  becoming  States  by  its  sanction.  There- 


Stephen  A.  Douglas  177 

fore,  it  was  the  duty  of  Congress  to  establish  a  gov- 
ernment over  a  territory  "best  suited  for  the  protec- 
tion and  security  of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
and  other  inhabitants  who  might  be  authorized  to 
take  up  their  abode  there."  But  "The  territory  being 
a  part  of  the  United  States,  the  government  and  the 
citizen  both  enter  it  under  the  authority  of  the  Con- 
stitution, with  their  respective  rights  defined  and 
marked  out;  and  the  Federal  government  can  exercise 
no  power  over  his  person  or  property  beyond  what  that 
instrument  confers,  nor  lawfully  deny  any  right  which 
it  had  reserved.,,  To  back  this  he  quoted  the  fifth 
amendment  included  in  Jefferson's  Bill  of  Rights  that 
"No  person  shall  be  deprived  of  life,  liberty  or  prop- 
erty, without  due  process  of  law."  He  went  on :  "And 
the  powers  over  person  and  property  of  which  we 
speak,  are  not  only  not  granted  to  Congress,  but  are  in 
express  terms  denied,  and  they  are  forbidden  to  ex- 
ercise them."  In  short:  "It  could  confer  no  power  on 
any  local  government,  established  by  its  authority,  to 
violate  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution."  With  Ta- 
ney's view  that  no  State  or  territory  had  the  power 
to  alienate  property,  there  would  probably  have  been 
no  serious  quarrel,  but  his  obiter  dictum,  which  was 
appended  to  the  opinion,  endorsing  the  view  that  no 
black  men  had  any  rights  a  white  man  was  bound  to 
respect,  raised  a  great  outcry  and  made  the  question 
of  slavery  more  acute  than  ever  before.  The  Kansas- 
Nebraska  dispute  broke  out  afresh.  The  conflict  was 
on  and  due  to  be  fought  to  a  finish. 

The  Lecompton  and  Topeka  Constitutions  were  in 
collision,  and  Mr.  Buchanan  began  by  accepting  the 


178  Stephen  A.  Douglas 

government  organized  under  the  former.  For  this  he 
was  called  severely  to  account.  New  England  rang 
with  the  dispute,  and  Missouri  border*  ruffians  con- 
tended in  Kansas  with  fanatics  serving  under  John 
Brown  and  his  associates  on  the  Free  State  side.  Mr. 
Buchanan  sent  regular  troops  to  bring  about  order. 
Their  commanders  behaved  with  discretion.  The  Presi- 
dent appointed  a  Pennsylvania  man,  then  located  in 
Mississippi — Robert  J.  Walker,  to  govern  the  unruly 
province,  which  he  did  well  but  briefly.  Mr.  Buchanan 
considered  civil  war  rampant  in  the  territory  and  it 
was.  On  Douglas  he  served  this  notice:  "I  wish  you 
to  remember  that  no  Democrat  ever  yet  differed  from 
an  administration  of  his  own  choice  without  being 
crushed,"  to  which  the  dauntless  Douglas  replied,  "Mr. 
President,  I  wish  you  to  remember  that  Andrew  Jack- 
son is  dead."  With  that  he  gave  warning  of  his  intent 
to  oppose  the  Lecompton  constitution  which  the  slave 
forces  had  provided  for  Kansas.  "Why  force  this  con- 
stitution down  the  throats  of  the  people  of  Kansas 
in  opposition  to  their  wishes  and  in  violation  of  their 
pledges?"  he  asked  pertinently,  concluding:  "But  if 
this  constitution  is  forced  down  our  throats,  in  viola- 
tion of  the  fundamental  principles  of  free  govern- 
ment, under  a  mode  of  submission  that  is  a  mockery 
and  an  insult,  I  will  resist  to  the  last."  So  he  went  as 
far  as  the  farthest  in  his  stand.  The  Free  Staters  re- 
fused to  vote  and  the  result  was  all  one  way.  Then 
Buchanan  went  to  the  extreme  of  holding  that  "Kansas 
is  *  *  *  at  this  moment  as  much  of  a  slave  state  as 
Georgia  or  South  Carolina."  Douglas  was  of  course 
roundly  assailed  from  the  side  of  the  administration 


Stephen  A.  Douglas  179 

and  the  South.  He  stood  up,  however,  insisting  that 
there  be  a  resubmission  of  the  Kansas  constitution. 
He  carried  his  point  though  the  Senate  had  voted  to 
accept  the  State  under  that  of  Lecompton.  This  was 
done  and  it  was  rejected  11,812  to  1,926.  The  ter- 
ritory thus  definitely  defied  the  dictums  of  the  Supreme 
Court. 

When  the  voters  had  signified  their  desires,  Bu- 
chanan urged  upon  Congress  "the  speedy  admission  of 
Kansas  into  the  Union"  as  a  free  state — believing  it 
uwould  restore  peace  and  quiet  to  the  whole  country. 
*  *  *  Kansas  once  admitted  into  the  Union,  the  ex- 
citement becomes  localized,  and  will  soon  die  away,  for 
want  of  outside  aliment.  Then  every  difficulty  will  be 
settled  at  the  ballot  box." 

This  was  a  hope  not  to  be  fulfilled.  Congress,  by  a 
strictly  party  vote  on  May  4,  1858,  voted  to  admit 
Kansas,  but  under  the  Lecompton,  or  pro-slavery  Con- 
stitution; Kansas  having  repudiated  that  document, 
naturally  refused  to  accept  Statehood  under  its  pro- 
visions, so  voting  on  August  2,   1858. 

Defending  his  own  attitude,   Douglas  declared: 

Everywhere  I  have  endeavored  to  prove  that  there  was  no 
reason  why  an  exception  should  be  made  in  regard  to  the 
slavery  question.  .  .  .  The  very  first  proposition  in  the  Ne- 
braska bill  was  to  show  that  the  Missouri  restriction,  pro- 
hibiting them  from  deciding  the  slavery  question  for  them- 
selves, constituted  an  exception  to  a  general  rule,  in  violation 
of  the  principle  of  self-government;  and  hence  that  that  ex- 
ception should  be  repealed,  and  the  slavery  question,  like  all 
other  questions,  submitted  to  the  people,  to  be  decided  by  them- 
selves. That  was  the  principle  on  which  the   Nebraska  bill 


180  Stephen  A.  Douglas 

was  defended  by  its  friends.  Instead  of  making  the  slavery 
question  an  exception,  it  removed  an  odious  exception  which 
before  existed We  repealed  the  Missouri  restriction  be- 
cause it  was  confined  to  slavery.  That  was  the  only  exception 
there  was  to  the  general  principle  of  self-government.  That 
exception  was  taken  away  for  the  avowed  and  express  purpose 
of  making  the  rule  of  self-government  general  and  universal, 
so  that  the  people  should  form  and  regulate  all  their  domestic 
institutions  in  their  own  way. 

His  term  expiring,  Horace  Greeley  and  other  influen- 
tial Republicans  desired  that  he  should  not  be  opposed 
by  the  party  in  Illinois,  because  of  his  Kansas  stand. 
This  view  was  not  accepted.  Instead  Abraham  Lincoln 
was  nominated.  The  campaign  opened  June  16,  1858, 
and  there  began  the  famous  debate  between  the  two 
men  which  was  to  lead  Lincoln  to  the  White  House. 
Lincoln  then  laid  down  his  precept : 

We  are  now  far  into  the  fifth  year  since  a  policy  was  initi- 
ated with  the  avowed  object,  and  confident  promise  of  putting 
an  end  to  the  slavery  agitation.  Under  the  operation  of  that 
policy,  that  agitation  has  not  only  not  ceased,  but  has  con- 
stantly augmented.  In  my  opinion,  it  will  not  cease  until  a 
crisis  shall  have  been  reached  and  passed.  "A  House  divided 
against  itself  cannot  stand."  I  believe  this  government  cannot 
endure  half  slave  and  half  free.  I  do  not  expect  the  Union  to 
be  dissolved — I  do  not  expect  the  house  to  fall — but  I  do  ex- 
pect it  will  cease  to  be  divided.  It  will  become  all  one  thing 
or  all  the  other.  Either  the  opponents  of  slavery  will  arrest 
the  further  spread  of  it,  and  place  it  where  the  public  mind 
shall  rest  in  the  belief  that  it  is  in  the  course  of  ultimate  ex- 
tinction; or  its  advocates  will  push  it  forward  till  it  shall 
become  alike  lawful  in  all  the  States,  old  as  well  as  new — 
North  as  well  as  South. 


Stephen  A.  Douglas  181 

It  would  be  hard  to  conceive  a  greater  contrast  than 
that  afforded  by  the  two  contestants.  Lincoln  was  six 
feet,  six  inches  tall,  ungainly  in  gait  and  manner.  His 
clothes  hung  loosely  upon  his  lank  figure ;  he  was  with- 
out oratorical  tricks;  his  voice,  high  and  piercing,  rather 
jarred  the  ear.  Yet  his  words  when  put  into  print  were 
golden.  They  live  with  the  utterances  of  the  immortals. 

Douglas,  on  the  other  hand,  was  a  finished  speaker. 
He  had  studied  in  the  school  of  Webster  and  Clay. 
Orotund  and  oracular,  he  rounded  his  periods  and 
appealed  to  the  ear  more  than  the  brain.  Dapper  in 
dress  and  figure,  almost  diminutive  in  size,  he  was 
diametrically  the  opposite  of  his  antagonist.  "Popular 
sovereignty"  was  the  only  phrase  of  his  creation  that 
seems  to  have  survived. 

To  aid  Douglas  in  his  cause  he  had  the  hostility  of 
Buchanan's  administration.  His  patronage  was  cut  off 
and  his  views  held  to  be  heretical.  Lincoln,  Douglas 
tried  to  brush  aside  as  "a  kind,  amiable  and  intelligent 
gentleman"  and  "good  citizen"  one  whom  he  had 
known  "personally  and  intimately  for  a  quarter  of  a 
century." 

While  Lincoln  spoke  with  the  voice  of  a  prophet, 
that  of  Douglas  was  the  voice  of  the  people.  The  right 
of  self-determination  made  the  stronger  appeal.  The 
majority  were  neither  interested  in  the  future  of  slav- 
ery, or  the  construction  of  the  Constitution.  It  was 
enough  to  leave  the  question  (and  all  others)  to  the 
decision  of  the  voter  when  required.  The  "initiative 
and  referendum"  doctrine  of  later  days  harks  back  to 
this  sentiment.  There  were  plenty  to  stand  for  his 
declaration  that  "this  government  of  ours  is  founded 


1 82  Stephen  A.  Douglas 

on  the  white  basis"  and  only  abolitionists  cared  to  give 
any  respect  to  the  "rights"  denied  the  negro  by  Judge 
Taney's  "Dred  Scott"  decision. 

The  two  debaters  faced  each  other  at  frequent  in- 
tervals on  the  same  platform  from  August  21st  to 
October  15th,  the  contest  ending  at  Alton  on  the 
latter  date. 

When  the  nation  took  account  of  stock  after  election 
day  in  1858  it  was  amazed  to  find  that  the  new  Repub- 
lican party  had  captured  Congress,  and  possessed 
twenty-five  senators.  The  man  who  had  done  most  to 
bring  this  about  was  not  among  the  number.  While 
Illinois  had  gone  Republican  by  3,821  plurality,  Mr. 
Lincoln  failed  to  gain  enough  legislators  to  offset 
twelve  hold-over  Democrats  in  the  state  assembly. 
Douglas  beat  Lincoln  in  the  balloting,  54  to  46. 

The  rail-splitter  went  humbly  back  to  his  law  office. 
Of  the  contest,  he  observed:  "It  gave  me  a  hearing 
on  the  great  and  durable  question  of  the  age  which  I 
could  have  had  in  no  other  way;  and  though  I  now 
sink  out  of  view  and  shall  be  forgotten,  I  believe  I 
have  made  some  marks  which  will  tell  for  the  cause 
of  civil  liberty  long  after  I  am  gone." 

The  immediate  outcome  was  that  Douglas  figured 
large.  He  was  able  to  set  aside  the  animus  of  the  Ad- 
ministration, and  to  lead  the  party  as  much  as  it  could 
be  led,  on  its  way  to  disaster.  A  good  percentage  of 
the  people  in  the  North  believed  he  had  selected  the 
right  road  out  of  the  national  perplexity.  It  was  the 
other  way  in  the  South  whither  Douglas  journeyed 
after  his  victory  in  an  endeavor  to  smooth  the  party 
differences.  He  did  not  succeed.  When  the  Senate  was 


Stephen  A.  Douglas  183 

organized  he  lost  the  Chairmanship  of  the  Committee 
on  Territories  and  was  continually  challenged  in  de- 
bate. He  remained  firm  in  his  position.  "I  tell  you 
gentlemen  of  the  South  in  all  candor,"  he  once  de- 
clared, "I  do  not  believe  a  Democratic  candidate  can 
ever  carry  one  state  of  the  North  on  the  platform  that 
it  is  the  duty  of  the  Federal  government  to  force  the 
people  of  a  territory  to  have  slavery  when  they  do 
not  want  it."  This  was  renewed  defiance  of  the  Su- 
preme Court,  which  lacked  the  means  of  enforcing  its 
mandate  and  which  Buchanan  dared  not  supply. 

Harper  and  Brothers  were  the  leading  publishers  of 
America,  and  their  New  Monthly  Magazine  was  a 
power.  In  the  issue  of  September,  1859,  the  trio,  who 
were  Democrats,  did  an  unusual  thing.  No  articles 
were  signed  in  that  day,  but  Douglas  was  given  nine- 
teen pages  in  which  to  discuss  over  his  signature  "Popu- 
lar Sovereignty  in  the  Territories."  The  periodical  was 
widely  read  in  the  South,  and  the  article  was  intended 
to  make  a  strong  political  appeal.  It  concluded  with 
this  paragraph  in  italics: 

The  principle  under  our  political  system  is  that  every  dis- 
tinct political  community,  loyal  to  the  Constitution  and  the 
•Union,  is  entitled  to  all  the  rights,  privileges  and  immunities 
of  self-government  in  relation  to  their  local  concerns  and  in- 
ternal policy,  subject  only  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States. 

We  have  since  conceded  this  more  than  once  by 
using  the  processes  of  Constitutional  amendments  to 
wipe  them  out ! 

The  crisis  of  i860  was  now  near  and  came  to  a 


184 Stephen  A.  Douglas 

crux  in  the  convention  of  the  Democratic  party  at 
Charleston,  South  Carolina,  where  it  met  on  April 
23rd.  Southern  votes  coupled  with  California  and  Ore- 
gon put  Caleb  Cushing,  a  cold-blooded  Constitution- 
alist" from  Massachusetts,  in  the  chair.  The  stage  was 
set  for  a  fight  between  slavery  and  popular  sovereignty, 
by  the  former's  control  of  the  Committee  on  Resolu- 
tions, which  at  once  came  to  a  clinch. 

It  was  five  days  before  the  wrangling  Committee 
reported  with  a  split.  The  Southern  and  West  Coast 
members,  who  were  in  the  majority,  endorsed  the  Dred 
Scott  decision,  denied  the  power  of  Congress  to  abolish 
slavery  in  the  territories,  and  affirmed  that  territorial 
legislatures  were  equally  powerless.  This  had  been 
carried  in  the  Committee,  17  to  16.  Douglas'  follow- 
ing was  a  majority  in  the  convention,  and  to  prevent 
the  adoption  of  the  minority  report,  the  Southerners 
filibustered.  Cushing  ruled  in  their  favor  and  so  caused 
deep  resentment  on  the  part  of  the  majority  of  dele- 
gates. He  threatened  to  leave  the  chair  unless  order 
was  respected.  The  two  sides  locked  horns  and  the 
platform  went  over  until  Monday,  when  the  Douglas 
men  won,  165  to  138.  As  a  result,  fifty-one  Southern- 
ers left  their  seats,  so  that  on  Tuesday  but  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty-two  delegates  were  on  hand.  The  two 
thirds  rule  was,  however,  adopted.  Nominations  fol- 
lowed. Douglas  was  named,  together  with  Daniel  S. 
Dickinson,  R.  M.  T.  Hunter,  Andrew  Johnson  and 
Gen.  Joseph  Lane.  Douglas  had  the  lead — 145^2 
votes.  His  highest  number  was  152^.  Fifty-seven 
ballots  having  produced  a  deadlock,  and  no  progress 


%v1F 


AMINADAB   SLEEK    AT  JONES'   WOOD. 

"My.  friends,  there  is  no  patriotic  duty  on  earth  more  gratifying  to  my  feelings  than  to  make  a  speech  over  Mr.  Lincoln's  political 
crave.  [Loud  cheers.]  I  do  not  make  this  remark  out  of  any  unkindness  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  but  I  believe  that  the  good  of  his  owji 
country  requires  it."— Douglas's  Speech,   Wednesday,  September  12th,  1860. 


A    "CLOSE-UP"    OF    DOUGLAS 

One  of  the  best  of   current  cartoons  of   this  able  politician. 
From  Vanity  Fair,  October  13,  1860 


Stephen  A.  Douglas 185 

being  possible,  the  convention  adjourned  to  meet  in 
Baltimore  on  June  18th. 

Between  the  conventions  Jefferson  Davis  introduced 
a  set  of  resolutions  in  the  Senate  embodying  the  prin- 
ciples declared  in  what  had  been  the  majority  platform 
report  at  Charleston,  which  the  Douglas  men  had  de- 
feated. These  were  for  supporting  Taney's  view  of  the 
constitution.  Davis  led  in  the  resulting  debate.  "We 
claim  protection"  he  asserted,  "first  because  it  is  our 
right;  secondly,  because  it  is  the  duty  of  the  general 
government.  *  *  *  What  right  has  Congress  to  abdi- 
cate any  power  conferred  upon  it  as  the  trustee  of  the 
states?  But  we  make  you  no  threat;  we  only  give  you 
warning."  Douglas  was  of  course  in  the  center  of  the 
fire.  Responding  later  to  assault  from  Davis  he 
said:  "My  name  never  would  have  been  presented  at 
Charleston,  except  for  the  attempt  to  proscribe  me  as 
a  heretic.  Too  unsound  to  be  the  chairman  of  a  com- 
mittee of  this  body,  where  I  have  held  a  seat  for  so 
many  years  without  a  suspicion  resting  on  my  political 
fidelity,  I  was  forced  to  allow  my  name  to  go  there  in 
self-defence;  and  I  will  now  say  that  had  any  gentle- 
man, friend  or  foe,  received  a  majority  of  that  con- 
vention over  me,  the  lightning  would  have  carried  a 
message  withdrawing  my  name." 

Continuing,  he  flatly  accused  Davis  and  his  follow- 
ing of  planning  secession  as  early  as  1858  and  that  they 
were  pursuing  a  course  that  would  "lead  directly  and 
inevitably  to  a  dissolution  of  the  Union." 

May  17th,  the  two  again  debated.  "I  have  no  re- 
spect for  platforms,"  said  Davis.  "Would  sooner  have 


1 86  Stephen  A.  Douglas 

an  honest  man  on  any  sort  of  a  rickety  platform  you 
could  construct  than  to  have  a  man  I  did  not  trust  on 
the  best  platform  which  could  be  made."  To  which 
Douglas  retorted:  "If  the  platform  is  not  a  matter  of 
consequence,  why  press  the  question  to  the  disruption 
of  the  party?  Why  did  you  not  tell  us  in  the  beginning 
of  this  debate  that  the  whole  fight  was  against  the  man 
and  not  upon  the  platform  ?" 

To  his  great  credit,  Douglas  would  not  allow  him- 
self to  be  driven  from  his  position.  The  people  and  the 
people  alone,  he  unflinchingly  held,  ought  to  decide 
whether  their  territories  should  be  bond  or  free.  He 
openly  charged  the  fire-eaters  with  plotting  to  divide 
the  Union. 

When  the  Convention  assembled  in  the  Front  Street 
Theatre,  Baltimore,  it  was  found  the  breach  had 
widened.  Four  days  passed  before  the  Committee  on 
Credentials  could  report.  Several  contests  were  left 
to  the  convention.  The  Douglasites  controlled  and 
seated  their  own  kind.  The  anti-Douglas  element  held 
mass  meetings,  where  fiery  speeches  were  made  by 
orators  like  William  L.  Yancey.  Secession  was  in  the 
air — not  because  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  who  with  Han- 
nibal Hamlin,  of  Maine,  had  been  nominated  in  the 
interim  by  the  Republican  convention  at  Chicago,  on 
May  19th,  but  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas.  The  conven- 
tion became  a  bear-garden.  In  a  speech  of  much  dig- 
nity, mingled  with  despair,  Cushing  resigned  the  chair 
and  took  his  seat  with  the  Massachusetts  delegation, 
Governor  David  Todd  of  Ohio,  taking  his  place.  At 
this  point  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  of  Massachusetts,  arose 
and  announced  his  purpose  and  that  of  some  of  his 


Stephen  A.  Douglas  187 

associates  to  retire.  This  they  did,  amid  cat-calls  and 
hisses.  On  a  second  ballot  Douglas  received  181J/2 
votes  out  of  194^  cast,  and  was  declared  nominated. 
The  two  thirds  requirement  of  202  fixed  at  Charleston 
was  set  aside. 

The  bolters  named  John  C.  Breckinridge  of  Ken- 
tucky, then  Vice-President  and  Joseph  Lane  of  Ore- 
gon, while  on  May  9th,  the  Whigs  at  Baltimore,  in 
what  was  their  last  gasp,  had  already  nominated  John 
Bell  of  Tennessee  and  Edward  Everett  of  Massachu- 
setts. It  was  at  once  perceived  that  with  three  tickets 
in  the  field  Lincoln  would  win.  Jefferson  Davis  took 
the  lead  in  an  endeavor  to  induce  all  candidates  to 
withdraw  in  favor  of  some  fusion  that  would  save  the 
day.  Breckinridge  and  Bell  were  willing  but  Douglas 
refused  on  the  ground  that  it  would  betray  his  friends, 
who  would  go  en  masse  to  Lincoln;  the  scheme  was 
therefore  impracticable.  So  the  three  tickets  remained 
to  divide  the  Anti-Republican  vote. 

With  all  of  Douglas'  prestige,  as  a  result  of  this 
division  Lincoln  had  small  fear  of  him  when  they  met 
at  the  polls.  "Mr.  Douglas  is  a  cabinet  maker"  he  was 
jestingly  reminded  when  the  campaign  opened.  uHe 
was  when  I  first  knew  him"  was  his  reply,  "but  he 
gave  up  the  business  so  long  ago  that  I  don't  think 
he  can  make  a  President's  chair  now." 

"Will  Judge  Douglas  ever  be  President?"  some  one 
asked  William  H.  Seward,  then  senator. 

"No,  sir,"  was  the  reply.  "No  man  will  ever  be 
President  of  the  United  States  who  spells  'negro'  with 
two  g's." 

This  was  witty,  but  the  Republican  platform  offered 


1 88  Stephen  A.  Douglas 

no  opportunity  for  making  states  free  by  vote  of  their 
people.  Instead  it  disapproved  of  Popular  Sovereignty 
and  condemned  the  John  Brown  raid  into  Virginia  that 
was  still  echoing. 

Douglas  fought  his  fight  ably,  though  he  knew  his 
cause  was  lost.  When  counted,  Lincoln  had  1,857,610 
votes;  Douglas  1,291,574;  Breckinridge  850,082; 
Bell  646,124.  So  Lincoln  won  by  a  plurality — 930,170 
less  than  a  majority  of  the  poll.  Of  electors  Lincoln  had 
180,  Douglas  12,  Breckenridge  72  and  Bell  39. 

Manfully,  the  Little  Giant  had  stood  up  against  his 
foes.  Loyally  he  supported  Lincoln  in  the  events  that 
followed. 

Douglas  showed  with  all  other  Northern  statesmen 
the  bewilderment  attending  the  organization  of  a 
Southern  Confederacy  at  Montgomery  in  January 
1 861.  The  desire  to  avoid  a  clash  by  overt  acts  on  the 
part  of  the  National  government  was  paramount. 
Douglas  went  so  far  as  to  offer  a  resolution  in  the  Sen- 
ate advising  the  "withdrawal  of  the  garrisons  from  all 
forts  within  the  limits  of  the  states,  which  had  seceded, 
except  those  at  Key  West  and  the  Dry  Tortugas,  need- 
ful to  the  United  States  for  coaling  stations."  In  sup- 
porting this  suggestion  he  added:  "I  proclaim  boldly 
(he  might  better  have  said  timidly),  the  policy  of 
those  with  whom  I  act.  We  are  for  peace."  He  held 
the  new  President's  hat  while  he  read  his  inaugural 
on  the  steps  of  the  Capitol.  But  his  strength  was  gone: 
he  was  no  longer  a  giant  in  any  sense.  His  campaign 
left  him  $80,000  in  debt  and  weakened  physically. 
"Mr.  Douglas,"  said  President  Lincoln  to  Albert  D. 
Richardson,  correspondent  of  the  New  York  Tribune, 


Stephen  A.  Douglas 189 

soon  after  Sumter,  "spent  three  hours  with  me  this 
afternoon.  For  several  days  he  has  been  too  unwell  for 
business,  and  has  devoted  his  time  to  studying  war 
matters,  until  he  understands  the  military  system  bet- 
ter than  anyone  in  the  Cabinet.  Our  conversation 
turned  upon  the  rendition  of  slaves.  'You  know,'  said 
Douglas,  'that  I  am  entirely  sound  on  the  fugitive  slave 
law.  I  am  for  enforcing  it  in  all  cases  within  its  true 
intent  and  meaning;  but  after  examining  it  carefully 
have  concluded  that  a  negro  insurrection  is  a  case  to 
which  it  does  not  apply.'  " 

He  died  at  Chicago,  June  3,  1861,  having  little 
more  than  entered  his  forty-ninth  year. 

His  death  [wrote  Richardson  from  Washington  to  the 
Tribune]  excites  profound  and  universal  regret.  Though  to- 
tally unfamiliar  with  books,  Mr.  Douglas  thoroughly  knew 
the  masses  of  the  Northwest,  down  to  their  minutest  sympa- 
thies and  prejudices.  Beyond  any  of  his  contemporaries  he  was 
a  man  of  the  people  and  the  people  loved  him.  Never  before 
could  he  have  died  so  opportunely  for  his  posthumous  fame. 
Nothing  in  his  life  became  him  like  the  leaving  of  it.  His 
last  speech,  in  Chicago,  was  a  fervid,  stirring  appeal  for  the 
union  and  the  government,  and  for  crushing  out  treason  with 
an  iron  hand.  His  emphatic  loyalty  exercised  great  influence 
in  Illinois.  His  lifelong  opponents  forget  the  asperities  of  the 
past,  in  the  halo  of  patriotism  around  his  setting  sun,  and 
unite  with  those  who  always  idolized  him,  in  common  tribute 
to  his  memory. 

Lincoln,  Richardson  held,  "while  distinctly  of  the 
masses  *  *  *  represented  their  sober,  second 
thought,  their  higher  aspirations,  their  better  possi- 
bilities.   Douglas    embodied   their    average    impulses, 


190  Stephen  A.  Douglas 

both  good  and  bad.  Upon  the  stump,  his  fluency,  his 
hard  common  sense,  and  his  wonderful  voice,  which 
could  thunder  like  the  cataract,  or  whisper  with  the 
breeze,  enabled  him  to  sway  them  at  his  will."  More- 
over: "Entirely  without  general  culture,  more  ignorant 
of  books  than  any  other  public  man  of  his  day,  Doug- 
las was  christened  'The  Little  Giant'  by  the  unerring 
popular  instinct.  He,  who  without  learning  of  the 
schools,  and  without  preparation,  could  cope  with 
Webster,  Seward  and  Sumner  surely  deserved  that  ap- 
pellation." 

The  deep  lack  in  Douglas,  which  was  shown  when 
pitted  against  Lincoln,  was  not  in  vote  getting,  but  in 
failing  to  grasp  the  great  moral  principle  involveu. 
Like  Roger  Taney,  he  could  not  perceive  that  the 
Negro  had  any  rights  a  white  man  was  bound  to  re- 
spect. His  jealousy  alone  concerned  the  rights  of  the 
whites,  and  here  his  doctrine  of  Popular  Sovereignty 
came  in.  He  stood  by  the  theory  that  the  people  had 
a  right  to  keep  slaves,  and  gave  no  thought  at  all  to 
the  question  of  whether  or  not  it  was  right  to  do  so. 
The  settlement  of  the  first  question  he  regarded  as 
something  to  be  left  to  the  people  of  a  State,  that  is 
to  say,  of  the  new  ones  to  be  created  west  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi— the  old  ones  were  settled  in  their  several  po- 
sitions. The  North  would  not  permit  slavery,  the  South 
would  not  permit  freedom;  its  extension  was  to  be 
left  to  those  who  wanted  it.  His  ''compromise"  con- 
travened the  Constitution  on  one  hand  and  the  rights 
of  the  Negro  on  the  other.  That  he  aimed  to  save 
the  Union  is  beyond  doubt,  but  the  wiser  Lincoln 
could  see  what  Douglas  could  not  perceive,  that  it  must 


Stephen  A.  Douglas 191 

cease  to  exist  half  slave  and  half  free.  Lincoln  had  not 
figured  out  a  way  to  solve  the  problem,  but  his  great 
mind  told  him  what  Douglas'  did  not,  that  the  end 
of  either  the  institution  or  the  nation  was  near. 

On  the  face  of  his  opinions  Douglas  should  have 
satisfied  the  South  and  secured  his  election  to  the  Presi- 
dency. There  were  enough  votes  to  do  it,  but  the 
strict  Constitutionalists  undid  him  and  pulled  away  the 
ballots  that  would  have  averted  war.  The  inelasticity 
of  a  document,  resting  upon  the  chance  of  one  man's 
opinion  in  the  Supreme  Court,  has  more  than  once 
imperilled  the  welfare  of  the  country — and  will  again! 

Nasby  summed  Douglas  up  not  unjustly,  in  this 
phrase:  "His  imatashen  of  Jaxon  wood  be  good  if  he 
want  too  short  at  both  ends — his  characterizashun  uv 
the  Tennessee  stump  politishun  would  be  capital  ef 
he  didn't  spile  it  with  a  weak  delushun  of  Massachu- 
setts— he  wood  in  short  be  a  good  Democrat  ef  he  lit 
Ablishnism  alone,  and  he  mite  possibly  be  a  good  Ab- 
lishnist  ef  hed  lit  Democracy  alone  and  not  say  much." 

So  he  fell  hard  between  two  stools. 


X 

WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD 

GREATER   THAN    HIS   PARTY 

WHILE  William  Henry  Seward  never  came 
before  the  people  at  the  polls  as  the  Presi- 
dential candidate  of  a  party,  he  no  less  de- 
serves a  place  among  those  who  did,  for  his  talents 
and  achievements  earned  him  a  right  to  that  lofty  am- 
bition. Indeed  it  seemed  assured  that  he  would  carry 
off  the  nomination  at  the  second  convention  led  by  the 
Republicans  at  Chicago,  on  May  16,  i860,  but  he  was 
defeated  by  the  hostility  of  Horace  Greeley  and  the 
shrewd  tactics  employed  by  Abraham  Lincoln  and  his 
Illinois  supporters.  Obscured  by  the  gigantic  shadow 
cast  by  the  apotheosis  of  Lincoln,  Seward's  place  in 
history  has  become  unduly  small.  It  appears  large  to 
the  student  of  American  progress.  Born  at  Florida, 
Orange  county,  New  York,  May  16,  1801,  he  gradu- 
ated from  Union  College,  Schenectady,  in  1820  and 
adopted  the  law  as  a  profession,  setting  up  practice  in 
1823  at  Auburn,  which  was  thereafter  his  home  and 
base  of  his  active  political  operations.  His  great  gloomy 
square  mansion  is  still  a  landmark  in  the  town. 

Here  he  was  soon  in  politics,  where  he  shone  for 
nearly  a  half  century.  The  Anti-Masonic  movement 
in  New  York  and  its  contiguous  states  was  under  way 

192 


WILLIAM    HENRY    SEWARD 
From  a  painting-  by  H.  Inman 


William  H.  Seward 193 

in  1830.  Seward  came  into  touch  with  Thurlow  Weed, 
the  editor  and  owner  of  the  Albany  Journal.  The  two 
struck  up  a  brotherhood  that  never  parted.  Western 
New  York  was  seething  with  incidental  excitement. 
The  murder  of  William  Morgan,  of  Batavia,  in  1826, 
because  of  his  exposure  of  masonic  "secrets"  led  to 
an  extraordinary  uprising,  which,  though  it  accom- 
plished nothing  for  itself  became  of  importance  in 
other  directions.  One  of  its  chief  outcomes  was  the 
development  of  Seward  as  a  factor  in  American  poli- 
tics. The  Anti-Masons  grew  into  a  party,  which  nomi- 
nated Seward  for  the  State  Senate  in  1830  and  elected 
him.  This  brought  him  to  Albany  and  close  to  Weed. 
He  secured  a  second  term  in  the  Senate,  by  the  end  of 
which  period  the  Whig  party  had  assumed  shape  in 
New  York  State  and  nominated  him  for  governor  in 
1834.  William  L.  Marcy  defeated  him.  In  the  war  on 
Martin  Van  Buren  the  Whigs  grew  in  power.  Nomi- 
nated again  in  1838  Seward  was  elected  and  re-elected. 
While  governor  he  pardoned  James  Watson  Webb, 
editor  of  the  New  York  Courier  and  Enquirer,  the 
Whig  organ,  who  had  been  sentenced  to  two  years  in 
Sing  Sing  for  fighting  a  duel  with  Thomas  F.  Marshall 
of  Kentucky.  In  grateful  appreciation  the  editor  named 
his  next  born  son  William  Seward  Webb.  In  the  mean- 
time Horace  Greeley  had  been  added  to  the  partner- 
ship. The  three  ruled  the  Whig  party,  and  made  them- 
selves felt  in  the  nation. 

In  1849  tne  Whigs  controlled  the  New  York  legis- 
lature and  sent  Seward  to  the  United  States  Senate. 
The  Anti-Masons  had  long  ago  vanished,  but  the  new 
territory  brought  in  by  the  victory  over  Mexico  had 


194  William  H.  Seward 

opened  up  the  free-soil  agitation,  developed  a  party 
and  split  both  Whigs  and  Democrats  into  factions. 
Seward  went  to  Washington  as  the  open  foe  of  slavery 
from  the  most  important  state  in  the  Union.  He  had 
welded  together  diverse  elements  to  make  himself  Sena- 
tor and  was  soon  to  employ  them  further  in  forming 
a  party.  Zachary  Taylor  was  President  and  had  called 
upon  the  Congress  in  his  message  to  provide  govern- 
ment for  the  annexed  regions.  Seward  came  promptly 
into  the  atmosphere  of  compromise  with  a  motion  re- 
viving the  Wilmot  proviso,  previously  rejected.  It 
read:  "Neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude,  oth- 
erwise than  by  conviction  for  crime,  shall  be  allowed 
in  either  of  said  territories  of  Utah  and  New  Mexico. " 
This  was  defeated  by  33  to  23,  Clay,  Webster  and 
Daniel  S.  Dickinson,  Seward's  Democratic  colleague 
from  New  York  voting  in  the  negative.  He  speedily 
found  himself  in  a  majority  when  dealing  with  the  ad- 
mission of  California  as  a  free  state.  Dickinson  voted 
with  Seward.  So  did  Lewis  Cass  and  Stephen  A.  Doug- 
las. Clay  and  Webster  are  not  recorded.  In  the  debate 
covering  the  various  phases  of  the  compromise  Seward 
had  a  bold  and  distinguished  share.  "I  say  to  the  slave 
states,"  he  said,  "you  are  entitled  to  no  more  stringent 
laws  and  that  such  laws  would  be  useless.  The  cause 
of  the  inefficiency  of  the  present  statute  is  not  at  all 
the  leniency  of  its  provisions;  it  is  the  public  sentiment 
in  the  North,  which  will  not  support  the  enforcement 
of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act.  *  *  *  If  you  will  have  this 
law  executed  you  must  alleviate,  not  increase  its  rig- 


ors." 


This  was  wise  and  true,  if  unacceptable  even  to 


William  H.  Seward 195 

Webster  and  Clay.  He  made  the  two  most  notable 
utterances  put  forth  concerning  the  slavery  question. 
The  first  of  these  was  also  in  the  debate  on  the  com- 
promise. "We  hold,"  he  declared,  "no  arbitrary  au- 
thority on  anything,  whether  acquired  lawfully  or 
seized  by  usurpation.  The  constitution  regulates  our 
stewardships;  the  constitution  devotes  the  domain  (ter- 
ritorial) to  union,  to  justice,  to  defence,  to  welfare, 
to  liberty.  But  there  is  a  higher  law  than  the  constitu- 
tion, which  regulates  our  authority  over  the  domain, 
and  devotes  it  to  the  same  noble  purpose.  *  *  *  I  feel 
assured  that  slavery  must  give  way  *  *  *  that  eman- 
cipation is  inevitable  and  near  *  *  *  but  I  will  adopt 
none  but  lawful,  constitutional  and  forceful  means  to 
secure  even  that  end." 

Daniel  Webtser,  Henry  Clay,  Thomas  Corwin,  John 
P.  Hale,  John  C.  Calhoun  and  Lewis  Cass  were  among 
his  listeners.  As  a  Whig  he  was  registered  as  speaking 
for  President  Taylor.  Webster  was  contemptuous  of 
the  speech,  and  Clay  held  that  it  would  cost  Seward  all 
respect.  He  was  vigorously  condemned,  but  his  party 
in  his  state  endorsed  his  utterances.  Taylor  died,  and 
Seward  at  odds  with  Fillmore  in  New  York  politics, 
continued  so  in  Washington.  It  came  about,  how- 
ever, through  one  change  and  another  that  three  men 
of  great  ability  came  to  Seward's  support,  after  Clay, 
Calhoun  and  Webster  had  passed  from  the  scene.  They 
were  John  P.  Hale  of  New  Hampshire,  Salmon  P. 
Chase  of  Ohio  and  Charles  Sumner  of  Massachusetts. 
Douglas  vibrated  between  them  and  the  extremists  of 
the  South  now  led  by  Jefferson  Davis  of  Mississippi. 
The  Free  Soil  party  came  into  portentous  being,  run- 


196  William  H.  Seward 

ning  Hale  for  the  Presidency  against  Pierce  in  1852. 
Massachusetts  fought  the  return  of  slaves  and  other 
states  were  careless  of  the  law.  Democrats  became 
free-soilers  under  the  name  of  Barn-burners,  follow- 
ing the  lines  laid  for  them  by  Van  Buren.  They  also  de- 
veloped "Hunkers"  as  they  were  called.  In  New  York 
Prohibition  evolved  a  following.  Weed  and  Seward 
skillfully  united  the  several  diverse  elements  and 
elected  a  governor  of  New  York  in  1852.  Then  came 
the  Republican  party  out  of  the  chaos  of  kickers 
which  Seward  and  Weed  later  seized  and  made 
their  own.  The  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compro- 
mise gave  it  growth  and  in  1856  it  was  able  to 
stand  alone.  Seward  seemed  the  logical  candi- 
date for  its  first  try  at  the  Presidency.  He  had, 
however,  many  enemies  and  was  too  well  known  as 
to  views  and  methods.  In  all  new  parties  there  is 
much  political  refuse  and  this  one  was  full  of  it;  though 
including  many  men  of  brains  and  courage,  it  still  had 
to  follow  expediency  rather  than  principle.  Weed  con- 
sidered its  following  too  weak  to  carry  Seward  with 
his  handicap  of  hostility  and  on  his  advice  he  made 
no  attempt  to  secure  the  nomination  which  went  to 
Fremont  as  already  told.  The  party  did  not  try  to 
draft  its  most  eminent  member.  Its  purposes  were  not 
yet  clear.  Seward  was  a  persistent  foe  of  slavery.  The 
party  had  no  mind  to  do  more  than  head  off  its  exten- 
sion. He  had  tried  to  abolish  it  in  the  District  of 
Columbia  as  a  starting  point  and  endeavored  to  bring 
about  the  repeal  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  law.  Greeley 
had  cast  off  Weed  and  Seward.  His  voice  was  for 
Fremont.   So   Seward  subsided,   saved  himself   from 


William  H.  Seward  197 

defeat  and  kept  to  his  purposes.  He  did  believe  the 
party  could  succeed  in  i860  and  trimmed  his  sails  for 
the  second  contest.  The  Missouri  compromise  had 
been  repealed,  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill  passed  and 
James  Buchanan  had  been  elected  President.  These 
things  on  the  surface  seemed  to  make  the  new  party 
futile,  which  it  would  have  been  but  for  the  dissen- 
sions among  its  opponents.  The  country  itself  was 
weary  of  the  continuous  contention  and  would  gladly 
have  sunk  the  slavery  question  in  the  bottom  of  the 
sea,  but  the  moves  made  to  save  it  kept  the  Abolition 
cause  alive  and  the  Southern  leaders  fanned  its  flame. 
Seward  stood  with  Douglas  in  favor  of  Popular 
Sovereignty,  and  astonished  the  Republicans  in  the 
Senate  by  supporting  Buchanan's  army  bill  in  1857. 
This,  men  like  John  P.  Hale  opposed  in  the  fear  that 
the  augmented  force  would  be  used  to  coerce  Kansas. 
Seward  had  no  such  apprehension.  "We  are  fighting," 
he  said  in  reply  to  Hale  afor  a  majority  of  the  states. 
They  are  already  sixteen  to  fifteen.  Whatever  this  ad- 
ministration may  do — whatever  anybody  may  do,  be- 
fore one  year  from  this  time  we  shall  be  nineteen  to 
fifteen."  Which  was  precisely  what  the  South  was 
afraid  of.  When  taken  to  task  by  Republicans  Seward 
replied  tartly:  "I  know  nothing,  I  care  nothing — I 
never  did,  I  never  shall — for  party."  He  saw  clearly 
the  consistency  of  Douglas  and  it  appealed  strongly 
to  his  sense  of  the  higher  law.  By  1858  Seward  had 
come  to  be  recognized  as  the  chief  power  in  the  Re- 
publican party  despite  his  declaration  of  indifference. 
Lincoln  had  been  defeated  by  Douglas.  His  "house  di- 
vided" was  still  standing  when  Seward  made  his  sec- 


198  William  H.  Seward 

ond  notable  declaration  at  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  on  Octo- 
ber 25,  1858,  saying:  "So  incompatible  are  the  two 
systems  that  every  new  state  makes  its  first  political 
act  a  choice  of  the  one  and  an  exclusion  of  the  other, 
even  at  the  cost  of  civil  war,  if  necessary.  They  who 
think  that  it  is  accidental,  unnecessary,  the  work  of 
interested  or  fanatical  agitators  and  therefore  ephem- 
eral, mistake  the  case  altogether.  It  is  an  irrepressible 
conflict  between  opposing  and  enduring  forces,  and  it 
means  that  the  United  States  must  and  will,  sooner 
or  later,  become  entirely  a  slave-holding  nation  or 
entirely  a  free-labor  nation.  *  *  *  I  know  and  you 
know  that  revolution  has  begun.  I  know  and  all  the 
world  knows  that  revolutions  never  go  backwards. " 

The  November  elections  followed.  To  the  amaze- 
ment of  all,  the  despised  Republicans  were  in  control 
of  Congress,  and  Seward  stood  foremost  among  them. 
When  Congress  came  to  organize,  the  Southern  sen- 
ators and  representatives  were  in  the  utmost  dismay. 
Secession  was  in  the  air.  John  Sherman's  candidacy 
for  Speaker  was  looked  upon  as  the  forerunner  of 
Seward's  nomination  and  election  the  next  year, 
termed  by  Roger  A.  Pryor  "the  ultimate  catastrophe." 
Nobody  dreamed  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  Seward  was 
the  bogey  man.  Sherman  lost  the  speakership  to  a 
nonentity  from  New  Jersey.  There  was  a  little  ces- 
sation of  stress,  when  John  Brown's  raid  on  Harper's 
Ferry  re-awoke  the  issue. 

To  Seward  the  situation  seemed  absurd,  as  indeed 
it  was:  "It  will  be  an  overwhelming  source  of  shame 
as  well  as  sorrow  if  we  thirty  millions  *  *  *  cannot 
so  combine  prudence  with  humanity,  in  our  conduct 


William  H.  Seward  199 

■—  ————1    — 

concerning  the  one  disturbing  subject  of  slavery.  *  *  * 
There  is  not  over  the  face  of  the  whole  world  to  be 
found  one  representative  of  our  country  who  is  not  an 
apologist  for  the  extension  of  slavery." 

It  was  his  wish  that  the  demands  for  disunion 
should  be  considered  "seriously  and  with  a  just  modera- 
tion." He  would  so  plead,  but  he  also  was  unable  to 
regard  the  "extraordinary  declamations"  as  he  termed 
them  as  likely  of  fulfillment  as  "so  unnatural  that  they 
will  find  no  hand  to  execute  them."  The  radical  anti- 
slavery  men  considered  this  tone  one  of  weakness  and 
it  likewise  failed  to  soothe  the  South.  Some  men  re- 
garded the  speech  as  sensible  and  sound.  Wendell 
Phillips  charged  that  Seward  had  shaped  it  so  as  to 
suit  Wall  Street. 

The  Republican  National  Convention  was  now  due 
with  the  stage  set  for  Seward.  Senator  Preston  King 
wrote  John  Bigelow  on  April  23,  i860:  "I  think  as 
I  have  thought  for  a  long  time  that  Governor  Seward 
will  be  nominated."  "Could  a  popular  vote  on  the 
subject  be  taken,"  observes  James  Ford  Rhodes,  "the 
majority  in  the  Republican  States  would  have  been 
overwhelmingly  in  his  favor.  Intensely  anxious  for  the 
nomination  and  confidently  expecting  it,  he  was  alike 
the  choice  of  the  politicians  and  the  people." 

But  obstacles  rose  suddenly  and  thick  in  his  path. 
His  belief  in  the  "irrepressible  conflict"  was  one  of 
these.  He  had  been  outspoken  against  Know-Nothing- 
ism  with  its  antipathy  to  immigrants.  He  was  hooked 
up  with  high  finance  through  his  connection  with  Thur- 
low  Weed,  said  an  underground  whisper.  William 
Cullen  Bryant  found  him  "encumbered  with  bad  as- 


200  William  H.  Seward 

sociates."  Most  active  of  all  his  enemies  was  Horace 
Greeley,  his  former  political  partner,  who  was  furi- 
ously in  opposition  to  his  nomination.  He  went  to 
Chicago  waving  a  banner  for  Edward  Bates  of  Mis- 
souri, who  was  an  owner  of  slaves  but  a  liberal.  Gree- 
ley favored  Lincoln  for  Vice-President.  Frank  P.  and 
Montgomery  Blair  were  fellow  Bates  boomers.  Gree- 
ley charged  that  Thurlow  Weed,  who  was  handling 
Seward,  had  plenty  of  money  and  was  using  it  with 
effect.  Weed's  money  had  a  brass  band  playing  tune- 
fully at  the  Richmond  House,  where  he  had  opened 
a  Seward  headquarters,  and  copious  quantities  of  cham- 
pagne. It  was  arranged  that  William  M.  Evarts  of 
New  York  would  nominate  Seward,  while  Carl  Schurz 
of  Wisconsin  and  Austin  Blair  of  Michigan,  were  to 
second.  Between  times  bands  serenaded  delegations 
who  were  expected  to  vote  the  right  way.  Greeley 
trailed  the  musicians  urging  against  Seward.  He  made 
his  great  influence  felt  first  in  the  Massachusetts  dele- 
gation and  others  from  New  England.  Virginia  turned 
to  Lincoln.  Yet  Greeley  after  going  over  the  ground 
thought  Seward  would  win  and  so  telegraphed  the 
New  York  Tribune. 

The  convention  met  in  the  Wigwam  on  May  16, 
i860.  David  Wilmot  of  Pennsylvania,  father  of  the 
famous  proviso,  called  it  to  order  and  George  Ashmun, 
of  Massachusetts,  a  forgotten  name,  was  permanent 
chairman.  Bates  for  all  of  Greeley's  efforts  could  poll 
but  48  votes  on  the  first  ballot.  Seward  had  173^2  to 
102  for  Abraham  Lincoln,  49  for  Salmon  P.  Chase 
and  50 y2]  for  Simon  Cameron.  On  the  second  call 
Seward  counted  184.  The  third  gave  him  180,  while 


SEWAED'S    GEAND    STAEEIJTO    TOUE. 

KING    RICfiABD    III.— Up  with  my  Wigwam!  herb  will  I  LIE  to-ni<jht. 


SEWARD    ON    THE    HUNT    FOR   VOTES 

Seward  was  a  formidable  contender  for  the  Republican  nomination,  which 
Lincoln    captured.      From    Vanity   Fair,   October   13,    18G0 


William  H.  Seward 201 

Lincoln  increased  to  131^.  Then  in  the  midst  of  the 
balloting  delegates  shifted  by  shoals,  and  Lincoln  was 
nominated  with  350  out  of  the  450  delegates  to  his 
credit.  It  was  an  amazing  exhibition  of  acumen  on  his 
part.  The  rail  splitter  had  outdone  the  subtle  Weed 
and  the  sophisticated  Seward.  Made  unanimous  the 
nomination  startled  the  country  in  its  unexpectedness 
and  roused  the  slave-states  into  a  wide-spread  spirit 
of  secession. 

There  was  some  rejoicing  in  the  South,  however 
over  Seward's  rejection.  Senator  Robert  Toombs,  for 
one  declared  that  "Actaeon  had  been  devoured  by  his 
own  dogs."  Deep  indeed  was  the  disappointment  of 
the  Seward  following.  The  case-hardened  Thurlow 
Weed  broke  down  and  shed  a  shower  of  tears.  Others 
thought  principle  had  been  tossed  aside  for  expediency 
in  the  choice  of  Lincoln.  Harking  back  to  Harrison's 
Log  Cabin,  they  saw  a  "rail  splitter"  chosen  for  the 
sake  of  a  slogan.  James  Russell  Lowell,  then  editor  of 
the  Atlantic  Monthly  expressed  the  higher  feeling 
when  he  wrote  in  commenting  on  the  result:  "We 
should  have  been  pleased  with  Mr.  Seward's  nomina- 
tion for  the  very  reason  we  have  been  assigned  for 
passing  him  by — that  he  represented  the  most  ad- 
vanced doctrines  of  his  party."  "Since  the  death  of 
Webster  we  have  not  seen  men  so  sober  and  sad  in 
this  city"  recorded  the  Boston  Courier.  "I  am"  wrote 
Seward  himself  ua  leader  deposed  by  his  own  party,  in 
the  hour  of  organization  for  decisive  battle."  He  did 
not  sulk,  however,  but  plunged  actively  into  the  cam- 
paign throughout  which  he  spoke,  with  enormous  ef- 
fect, travelling  as  far  west  as  Lawrence,  Kansas.  At- 


202  William  H.  Seward 

tacking  slavery  he  pleaded  for  a  policy  of  patience 
and  loving  kindness  toward  the  brethren  of  the  South, 
yet  proclaiming  all  the  while  the  "irrepressible"  na- 
ture of  the  conflict,  holding  it  "high  time  we  know 
whether  this  is  a  constitutional  government  under 
which  we  live" — a  somewhat  vain  appeal  for  one  who 
had  so  solemnly  sat  upon  a  "higher  law  than  the  Con- 
stitution. " 

There  was  much  opposition  when  it  became  known 
that  Lincoln  had  offered  Seward  the  place  of  Secre- 
tary of  State  in  his  cabinet.  Greeley  frothed.  "Seward," 
he  wrote  Schuyler  Colfax,  "is  a  poor,  worthless  devil 
and  old  Abe  seems  to  have  a  weakness  for  such."  So 
strong  was  the  opposition  that  Seward  withdrew  his 
acceptance.  Lincoln  sent  for  him  and  asked  him  to 
"hold  on,"  as  he  did  not  feel  he  could  get  along  with- 
out him.  Seward  reconsidered  after  a  day  of  reflection. 

His  first  task  was  to  meet  the  Southern  commis- 
sioners who  came  to  Washington  seeking  to  arrange 
a  peaceful  separation  of  the  states,  and  were  sent 
back  empty-handed.  They  had  thought  to  play  with 
him,  overlooking,  or  rather  despising,  Lincoln.  They 
carried  with  them,  however,  the  delusion  that  Seward 
controlled  the  President.  The  Washington  government 
vacillated.  That  at  Montgomery  pressed  its  point. 
There  was  confusion  in  the  cabinet  and  Lincoln's  mind 
had  not  worked  to  a  conclusion.  "We  are  at  the  end 
of  a  months'  administration,"  wrote  Seward  to  Lin- 
coln on  April  i,  1861,  "and  yet  without  a  policy, 
either  domestic  or  foreign."  It  was  impossible  to 
frame  one  without  taking  the  aggressive,  which 
neither  the  President  or  any  other  else  wished  to  do. 


William  H.  Seward 203 

He  advised  an  effort  to  shift  the  question  before  the 
public  from  slavery  to  union  or  dis-union.  The  seced- 
ing of  the  South  had  shaped  the  issue  on  precisely  that 
line.  He  wanted  the  great  European  nations  challenged 
on  their  attitude  toward  the  new  "republic,"  which 
would  have  been  ridiculous  at  the  moment.  Behind  this 
lay  the  far-fetched  idea  that  it  would  provoke  foreign 
wrath  and  so  unite  the  country  for  common  safety. 

The  domestic  policy  soon  shaped  itself  in  an  effort 
to  reinforce  the  beleagured  forts  at  Charleston  and 
Pensacola.  The  South  fired  on  Sumter  and  the  "issue" 
was  no  longer  specious.  When  England  recognized 
the  South  as  a  belligerent,  presaging  recognition  of  it 
as  a  nation,  Seward  returned  a  sharp  response  to  Earl 
Russell,  advising  him  that  such  steps  might  result  "in 
war  between  the  United  States  and  one,  two,  or  even 
three  European  nations."  This  was  correct,  though 
Thurlow  Weed  thought  Seward  "too  decisive"  and 
caused  an  outburst  in  England,  where  there  were  few 
to  love  the  Union  anyway,  especially  with  mills  stop- 
ping because  the  cotton  supply  was  cut  off.  Soon  a  real 
casus  belli  developed.  Captain  Charles  Wilkes,  U.  S. 
N.  commanding  the  steam  frigate  San  Jacinto f  enroute 
home  from  Africa  overhauled  on  the  high  seas  the 
British  passenger  steamer  Trent,  bearing  James  M. 
Mason  of  Virginia  and  John  Slidell  of  Louisiana,  Con- 
federate commissioners  to  foreign  parts,  and  took 
them  off  together  with  their  secretaries.  The  party  was 
carried  to  Boston  and  put  in  Fort  Warren.  The  act 
was  illegal  beyond  doubt,  under  our  own  rule  con- 
cerning the  right  of  search.  Britain  promptly  de- 
manded their  release.  Seward  acted  prudently,  though 


204  William  H.  Seward 

the  country  was  quite  willing  to  defy  England.  John 
Bigelow  is  responsible  for  a  statement  made  him,  he 
says,  by  Richard  M.  Blatchford,  United  States  Minis- 
ter to  Rome  that  "Lincoln  was  fully  determined  not 
to  surrender  the  commission,"  saying  decidedly  "No" 
when  Seward  laid  Russell's  dispatch  before  him.  The 
Secretary  said  it  was  a  grave  step  to  refuse.  "No  mat- 
ter," replied  Lincoln,  "I  will  never  give  them  up." 

"Then  I  shall  be  obliged  to  ask  you,  Mr.  President, 
to  write  the  reply  to  Earl  Russell,"  said  Seward,  "for 
the  strength  of  the  argument  from  our  past  policy, 
so  far  as  I  can  see  is  all  in  favor  of  a  compliance  with 
his  demands." 

To  this  Lincoln  on  reflection  agreed,  but  required 
Seward  to  write  one  on  his  own  lines.  This  Seward  did. 
When  Lincoln  had  perused  it,  he  dropped  his  own  let- 
ter, unread,  into  the  grate,  with  "Seward,  that  argu- 
ment is  unanswerable."  So  the  perilous  incident  was 
safely  closed. 

Seward  was  not  discomposed  at  the  usurpation  of 
Maximillian,  the  Austrian  Arch-Duke  who  set  up  a 
throne  in  Mexico,  supported  by  French  bayonets  as  a 
descendant  of  Charles  V  under  whom  Cortez  con- 
quered Montezuma.  "I  do  not  write  or  even  talk  just 
now  about  Mexican  affairs,"  he  wrote  John  Bigelow 
then  in  charge  in  France.  "I  think  it  prudent  to  watch 
and  wait.  Between  you  and  myself  alone,  I  have  a  be- 
lief that  the  European  state,  whichever  one  it  may  be, 
that  commits  itself  to  intervention  anywhere  in  North 
America,  will  sooner  or  later  fetch  up  in  the  arms  of 
a  nation  of  an  Oriental  country  not  specially  distin- 
guished for  amiability  of  manners  or  temper." 


William  H.  Seward 205 

He  meant  Russia  whose  czar  Nicholas  kept  sub- 
stantial fleets  of  warships  in  the  harbors  of  San  Fran- 
cisco and  New  York  for  a  season,  while  Louis  Napo- 
leon was  trying  to  make  mischief  in  Mexico. 

After  the  battle  of  Fredericksburg  there  was  so 
much  criticism  of  the  administration  that  Seward  and 
Chase  offered  to  resign  from  the  cabinet.  Chase  had 
been  an  uncomfortable  member.  He  was  disposed  of 
by  being  made  Chief  Justice  when  Roger  Taney  died. 
Seward  stayed  on  Lincoln's  insistence. 

February  25,  1863,  Seward  wrote  to  Bigelow:  "On 
the  whole  things  are  favorable.  Republics,  especially 
Federal  ones  must  have  agitations.  There  must  be  cur- 
rents and  counter-currents  of  opinion.  But  there  will 
probably  be  no  one  of  them  strong  enough  to  swamp 
so  staunch  a  ship."  He  declined  the  French  offer  of 
mediation  when  it  came  along  and  would  have  delayed 
the  Emancipation  Proclamation. 

The  Secretary  of  State  outrode  all  storms  until  that 
fateful  14th  of  April,  1865,  when  John  Wilkes  Booth 
slew  Lincoln  and  his  fellow  assassins  sought  Seward's 
life.  Nine  days  before  the  Secretary  had  jumped  from 
his  carriage  as  the  horses  ran  away  and  had  been  se- 
verely hurt.  He  was  delirious  and  in  bed,  when  Lewis 
Powell,  one  of  the  band,  pushed  his  way  into  the  sick- 
room, having  gained  entrance  to  the  house  on  the  pre- 
tense of  delivering  medicine  sent  by  the  attending  doc- 
tor. Frederick  W.  Seward,  the  elder  son,  sought  to  oust 
him,  when  he  was  felled  by  a  blow  from  a  revolver 
butt.  G.  T.  Robinson,  the  male  nurse  in  attendance, 
was  slashed  with  a  bowie  knife  and  knocked  senseless. 
Then  the  assassin  sprang  upon  the  Secretary  as  he  lay 


206  William  H.  Seward 

half  unconscious,  cut  his  face  and  throat  with  gashes 
and  fled.  Seward  fell  from  his  bed  and  was  found  in- 
sensible on  the  floor.  His  wounds  were  deep  but  not 
fatal,  though  he  never  fully  recovered  from  the  effect 
of  the  horrors  of  that  awful  night. 

Andrew  Johnson  retained  Seward  as  Secretary  of 
State  through  his  troubled  term.  Seward  supported 
him  loyally.  He  skillfully  edged  Napoleon  III  out  of 
Mexico,  while  the  Mexicans  disposed  of  Maximillian. 
Seward's  single  greatest  service  to  his  country  as  Sec- 
retary of  State  was  the  purchase  of  Alaska  from  Rus- 
sia for  $7,200,000,  the  best  real  estate  bargain  in  our 
history  after  Jefferson's  $15,000,000  Louisiana  pur- 
chase. The  territory  bought  covered  577,390  square 
miles,  pierced  with  great  rivers,  heavy  with  forests 
and  touching  the  eternal  arctic  ice.  The  treaty  was  fin- 
ished and  signed  at  four  o'clock  on  the  morning  of 
March  30,  1867,  by  Seward  and  Baron  Stoeckl,  the 
Russian  minister  at  Washington.  The  nation  did  not 
thrill  at  the  transaction.  It  was  denounced  as  "Sew- 
ard's folly"  and  made  fun  of  by  the  pert  paragraphers 
as  a  land  of  seals  and  snow.  Russia  had  pressed  the 
sale  and  Seward  had  bought,  not  in  a  prophetic  spirit, 
but  to  oblige  a  friend  who  had  lent  large  influence  dur- 
ing the  war.  He  did  not  foresee  the  millions  in  seals, 
fur,  copper,  gold,  coal,  and  salmon  that  were  to  re- 
ward his  venture.  It  stands  to-day  one  of  the  richest  of 
our  national  assets. 

Rhodes  charges  him  with  being  seized  with  the  an- 
nexation fever.  Perhaps  he  was.  His  next  negotiation 
was  to  acquire  the  Danish  Virgin  Islands  for  $7,500,- 
000  in  gold,  but  the  Senate  refused  the  trade,  while 


William  H.  Seward  207 

the  House  by  a  two-thirds  vote  denounced  the  pro- 
posed transaction.  Forty  years  afterwards  Woodrow 
Wilson  paid  $25,000,000  for  St.  Thomas  and  St. 
Croix  and  the  deal  went  through  without  a  murmur. 
Seward  also  advocated  the  annexation  of  Hawaii  and 
Santo  Domingo  and  was  turned  down.  We  have  since 
taken  over  Hawaii  to  our  great  advantage  and  "run" 
not  only  Santo  Domingo,  but  Haiti  the  black  half  of 
Hispaniola.  So  he  was  wise  and  foreseeing  where  other 
men  were  stupid  and  blind. 

The  last  complication  Seward  had  to  handle  was 
the  Fenian  raid  on  Canada,  operating  from  the  United 
States.  In  this  he  won  the  commendation  of  Sir  Freder- 
ick Bruce,  British  Minister  at  Washington  for  acting 
uwhen  the  moment  for  acting  came,  with  a  vigor,  a 
promptness  and  a  sincerity  which  call  for  the  warmest 
acknowledgment." 

When  Johnson  left  the  White  House  to  make  way 
for  U.  S.  Grant,  March  4,  1869,  Mr.  Seward,  weary 
with  his  labors  and  weakened  by  the  blows  of  the  as- 
sassin, retired  to  private  life.  He  was  on  the  verge  of 
three  score  and  ten.  His  life  had  been  devoted  to  pub- 
lic service  and  this  was  his  first  and  last  chance  to  look 
about  him.  He  therefore  made  a  journey  around  the 
world,  not  then  an  easy  thing  to  do,  and  put  his  ex- 
periences into  an  interesting  volume.  Retiring,  to  Au- 
burn, death  called  for  him  on  October  10,  1872. 

It  may  be  said  of  him  that  although  he  failed  of 
nomination  for  the  Presidency,  he  never  lost  a  cause. 
There  was  ua  higher  law  than  the  constitution"  and 
the  conflict  was  "irrepressible"  until  it  ended  in  blood ! 


XI 
GEORGE  BRINTON  McCLELLAN 


"little  mac" 


CAPTAIN  McCLELLAN  was  quite  young" 
wrote  the  wife  of  Jefferson  Davis  in  her  bi- 
ography of  that  gentleman  "and  looked 
younger  than  he  really  was  from  an  inveterate  habit 
of  blushing  when  suddenly  addressed;  his  modesty,  his 
gentle  manner  and  the  appositeness  of  the  few  remarks 
he  made,  gave  us  a  most  favorable  impression  of  him." 
This  was  a  view  dating  back  to  1855,  when  the  youth- 
ful officer  had  been  selected  by  Davis,  then  Secretary 
of  War  in  the  Cabinet  of  President  Franklin  Pierce, 
to  be  one  of  three  military  observers  sent  to  the 
Crimea,  where  France,  England  and  Turkey  were 
fighting  Russia.  He  was,  it  appears,  a  favorite  with 
the  Secretary  whose  "appreciation  of  Captain  McClel- 
lan," the  lady  continues,  "was  an  instance  of  his  happy 
faculty  of  discerning  the  merits  of  young  people." 

At  the  time  these  reflections  were  formed  Captain 
McClellan  was  twenty-eight  years  old,  having  been 
born  in  Philadelphia,  December  3,  1826.  His  father 
was  Dr.  George  McClellan,  a  physician  of  standing. 
After  a  preparatory  course  at  the  school  maintained 
by  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  he  entered  West 
Point  in  1842,  graduating  with  the  Class  of  1846,  in 

208 


George  Brinton  McClellan       209 

time  to  get  a  taste  of  the  War  with  Mexico,  as  a 
Second  Lieutenant  of  Engineers.  Brave  conduct  at 
Contreras  and  Churubusco  gave  him  the  brevet  of 
lieutenant  and  further  gallantry  at  the  storming  of 
Chapultepec  made  him  captain  in  like  fashion. 

From  Mexico,  together  with  his  company  of  engi- 
neers, he  was  assigned  to  West  Point  and  remained 
there  as  an  instructor  until  185 1.  In  1852,  he  accom- 
panied Captain  Randolph  B.  Marcy  on  an  exploring 
trip  to  the  Red  River  in  the  South,  and  from  this  duty 
spent  his  time,  until  sent  abroad,  in  the  Oregon  terri- 
tory on  surveys  for  a  possible  Pacific  railroad  by  that 
route. 

His  stay  in  the  Crimea  was  supplemented  with  mili- 
tary inspections  in  various  Continental  States,  with  his 
fellow  officers.  McClellan  wrote  the  report  of  their 
observations,  which  was  hailed  as  ua  model  of  con- 
cise and  accurate  information,"  adding  luster  to  uan 
already  brilliant  reputation." 

This  high  repute  took  him  out  of  the  army  in  Janu- 
ary, 1857,  where  he  was  then  a  Captain  of  Cavalry. 
He  resigned  to  become  chief  engineer  of  the  new  Illi- 
nois Central  Railroad  Company,  which  employed  as 
one  of  its  lawyers,  a  tall,  ungainly  man  living  in  Spring- 
field, named  Abraham  Lincoln,  much  given  to  reciting 
funny  tales.  McClellan  was  soon  promoted  to  the  vice- 
presidency  of  the  line.  From  this  post  he  was  later 
transferred  to  the  presidency  of  the  Eastern  Division 
of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  railway.  This  gave  him 
more  prominence  and  a  good  salary  for  so  young  a 
man.  He  married  Captain  Marcy's  daughter,  Ellen 
Mary,  May  22,  i860,  and  set  up  housekeeping  in  Cin- 


210       George  Brinton  McClellan 

cinnati,  where  his  duties  kept  him  busy  and  well  re- 
warded until  Fort  Sumter  was  fired  upon  and  taken. 

Politically,  he  was  a  Democrat,  and  a  follower  of 
Stephen  A.  Douglas,  whom  he  had  met  in  Illinois,  and 
kept  some  company  with,  during  the  debates  with  Lin- 
coln. He  thought  Douglas  far  the  abler  man  of  the 
two,  and  as  one  who  was  pursuing  the  right  path  in 
dealing  with  the  slavery  question,  observing  correctly 
that  while  the  Abolitionists  were  few  in  the  North, 
Free  Soilers  were  numerous.  While  not  believing  in 
slavery,  he  was  willing  the  problem  should  work  itself 
out,  but  when  the  South  went  to  war  to  protect  a  right 
it  had  decided  to  be  divine,  he  accepted  the  challenge 
in  the  belief  that  it  was  just  as  well  to  fight  the  issue 
out. 

His  trouble  came  when  it  befell  that  the  fighting  was 
to  be  done  under  the  auspices  of  a  new  party,  com- 
posed of  many  elements,  and  not  clear  as  to  its  own 
purposes,  or  certain  in  its  leadership. 

William  H.  Seward,  one  of  its  chief  promoters,  had 
failed  to  get  the  nomination  for  Presidency.  The  man 
who  won  was  the  story-telling  attorney  for  the  Illinois 
Central,  who  certainly  commanded  no  sort  of  respect 
in  McCellan's  mind.  His  own  reputation  led  to  his  re- 
ceiving several  offers  of  command,  one  from  Governor 
A.  G.  Curtin  of  Pennsylvania.  While  en  route  to  Phil- 
adelphia he  called  on  Governor  William  Dennison  of 
Ohio,  who  caused  the  Legislature  to  amend  the  militia 
law  so  he  could  make  McClellan  a  major-general  to 
command  the  State  Troops.  This  position  was  at  once 
given  him,  April  23,  1861.  May  13th,  having  sent  the 


George  Brinton  McClellan       211 

commander-in-chief,  General  Winfield  Scott  some  sug- 
gestions, he  was  given  an  appointment  to  command  a 
Department  of  Ohio,  covering  that  State,  Indiana  and 
Illinois,  to  which  were  soon  added,  parts  of  Western 
Virginia  and  Pennsylvania.  He  at  once  became  tre- 
mendously busy.  An  old  companion  in  arms,  U.  S. 
Grant,  of  Galena,  Illinois,  came  to  Cincinnati  to  ask 
for  employment.  McClellan  was  absent  at  the  moment. 
Before  he  returned,  Grant  had  accepted  a  State  col- 
onelcy from  Governor  Richard  J.  Ogelsby.  "This  was 
his  good  luck,"  McClellan  observes,  in  telling  his  Own 
Story  "for  had  I  been  there  I  would  no  doubt  have 
given  him  a  place  on  my  Staff  and  he  would  probably 
have  remained  with  me  and  shared  my  fate." 

This  is  assuming  a  good  deal  when  it  comes  to  con- 
trasting the  careers  of  the  two  men.  He  took  on  large 
responsibilities,  even  conferring  with  Simon  B.  Buck- 
ner,  commander  of  Kentucky's  troops,  on  the  question 
of  guaranteeing  the  "neutrality"  of  that  State,  which 
he  agreed  to  do  if  the  rebels  kept  out  of  it.  This 
caused  much  criticism.  His  friend,  Simon,  soon  became 
anything  but  neutral  himself.  May  26,  1861,  McClel- 
lan ordered  an  armed  movement  across  the  Ohio  into 
Virginia,  which  he  announced  with  imposing  proclama- 
tions to  both  his  army  and  the  First  Families.  He  had 
no  trouble  in  occupying  all  of  the  country  west  of  the 
Blue  Ridge  and  north  of  the  Kanawha.  Henry  A. 
Wise  and  J.  B.  Floyd,  late  Secretary  of  War,  were  in 
command  of  the  Confederates  and  in  no  hurry  to  fight. 
He  was  making  plans  for  conquering  the  mountain  dis- 
tricts of  the  South,  when  Bull  Run  sent  a  scare  all  over 


212       George  Brinton  McClellan 

the  North.  It  looked  as  though  Washington  must  fall, 
and  in  the  vast  confusion  McClellan  was  summoned 
to  the  capital,  which  he  reached  July  26,  1861,  after 
riding  sixty  miles  on  horseback  to  catch  a  train.  W.  S. 
Rosecrans  took  over  his  command.  In  an  affair  at  Rich 
Mountain,  McClelland  men  had  scored  a  bit  of  success 
and  the  alarmed  country  turned  to  him  as  a  savior.  He 
evidently  felt  so  himself.  Indeed,  adulation  began 
when  he  left  Ohio  for  the  "front."  He  wrote  his  wife 
that  he  met  with  ua  continued  ovation  along  the  road," 
while  at  every  station  "crowds  had  assembled  to  see 
the  young  general."  Children  were  held  up  by  mothers 
to  take  his  hand;  all  sorts  "cheering  and  crying  'God 
bless  you.*  "  At  Chillicothe  the  ladies  gave  him  "about 
twenty  beautiful  bouquets"  and  "almost  killed"  him 
with  kindness.  He  could  hear  them  say:  "He  is  our  gen- 
eral." "Look  at  him,  how  young  he  is."  "He  will  thrash 
them."  Quite  naturally  he  felt  exalted.  "One  thing 
takes  up  a  great  deal  of  time-"  he  writes  again,  "yet  I 
cannot  avoid  it.  Crowds  of  the  country  people  who 
have  heard  of  me  and  read  my  proclamations  come  in 
from  all  directions  to  thank  me,  shake  me  by  the  hand 
and  look  at  their  liberator,  the  general.  Of  course,  I 
have  to  see  them  and  talk  to  them.  Well,  it  is  a  proud 
and  glorious  thing  to  see  the  whole  people  here,  simple 
and  unsophisticated,  looking  up  to  me  as  their  deliv- 
erer from  tyranny."  "God  is  on  our  side"  he  wrote 
later. 

A  message  came  from  Scott  "Charmed  with  my  en- 
ergy, movements  and  success."  McClellan  thought  it 
"pretfty  well  for  the  old  man."  At  the  moment  he 
valued  "the  old  man's  praises  highly." 


George  Brinton  McClellan       213 

He  got  to  Washington  on  July  26,  1861,  and  called 
on  President  Lincoln,  who  told  him  he  was  to  com- 
mand Washington  and  its  defenses  against  the  ex- 
pected Beauregard  and  his  victorious  army.  The  order 
when  issued  instituted  a  "Division  of  the  Potomac/' 
He  took  hold  the  next  day.  August  4th,  he  had  "re- 
stored order."  Also  confidence.  He  dined  at  a  State 
dinner  with  the  President,  and  was  bored.  August  8th, 
he  had  a  "row"  with  Scott  and  was  "pestered  to  death 
with  Senators."  August  9th,  he  wrote  of  Scott  as  "a 
great  obstacle."  The  North  was  already  voting  Lin- 
coln a  failure  and  demanding  a  dictator.  "I  receive 
letter  after  letter"  McClellan  wrote  his  wife,  "have 
conversation  after  conversation,  calling  on  me  to  save 
the  nation,  alluding  to  the  Presidency,  dictatorship, 
etc."  He  called  upon  Heaven  to  note  that  he  had  no 
such  aspiration,  but  "would  cheerfully  take  the  dicta- 
torship and  agree  to  lay  down  my  life  when  the  country 
is  saved."  "God  grant  that  I  may  bring  this  war  to  an 
end  and  be  permitted  to  spend  the  rest  of  my  days 
with  you"  is  his  summing  up  to  his  wife. 

Mutinous  ninety  day  troops  who  wanted  to  go  home 
now  troubled  him.  He  quelled  a  kick  in  the  valiant 
Second  Maine  by  ordering  sixty-three  of  its  members 
sent  to  Dry  Tortugas  for  the  rest  of  the  war.  A  bat- 
talion of  regular  foot,  a  squadron  of  cavalry  and  a  bat- 
tery of  the  same  sort  was  needed  to  calm  the  Seventy- 
ninth  New  York,  famous  afterwards  as  Col.  Andrew 
D.  Baird's  Highlanders.  The  Scots  soon  became  meek 
before  this  array.  Official  Washington,  including  Lin- 
coln and  Scott,  "sit  on  the  verge  of  the  precipice,  and 
cannot  realize  what  they  see." 


214       George  Brinton  McClellan 

That  McClellan  had  a  poor  opinion  of  Lincoln  crops 
out  continually.  "Long  before  the  war"  he  observes  in 
one  instance,  "when  vice-president  of  the  Illinois  Cen- 
tral Railroad  Company,  I  knew  Mr.  Lincoln,  for  he 
was  one  of  the  counsel  for  the  company.  More  than 
once  have  I  been  with  him  in  out  of  the  way  county 
seats  where  some  important  case  was  being  tried,  and, 
in  the  lack  of  sleeping  accommodations,  have  spent 
the  night  in  front  of  a  stove  listening  to  the  unceasing 
flow  of  anecdotes  from  his  lips.  He  was  never  at  a  loss, 
and  I  could  never  quite  make  up  my  mind  how  many  he 
invented  on  the  spur  of  the  moment.  His  stories  were 
seldom  refined,  but  were  always  to  the  point." 

The  general  was  soon  conscious  of  another  thing. 
Recruiting  was  not  kept  up  and  it  became  clear  that 
there  was  no  hurry  to  end  the  war.  He  thought  this 
due  to  indecision  in  the  ruling  party  over  dealing  with 
slavery.  The  politicians  were  not  certain  that,  with  the 
sudden  crushing  of  the  South,  the  North  would  stand 
for  the  abolition  of  slavery.  Seward  and  Chase,  who 
desired  it  destroyed,  stood  in  the  way  of  action.  Lin- 
coln wanted,  frankly,  to  save  the  Union,  with  or  with- 
out slavery.  So  things  slackened  up.  Ordinary  obstacles 
were  reinforced  by  those  of  deliberate  neglect  and 
delay. 

The  break  with  Scott  came  on  September  27,  1861, 
when  Mr.  Lincoln  sent  a  carriage  for  McClellan 
to  meet  with  the  Cabinet  in  the  commanding  general's 
office.  "Before  we  got  far"  wrote  McClellan,  "the 
general  raised  a  row  with  me."  He  kept  cool,  but  Scott 
showed  much  aversion  at  parting  and  very  reluctantly 
took  the  younger  man's  hand.  "So  we  parted"  McClel* 


George  Brinton  McClellan       215 

Ian  concludes :  "As  he  threw  down  the  glove,  I  took  it 
up.  I  presume  war  is  declared." 

He  continued  to  charm  the  army,  if  not  its  chief 
commander.  "You  have  no  idea  how  the  men  brighten 
up  when  I  go  among  them"  he  wrote  his  wife.  "I  can 
see  every  eye  glisten.  Yesterday  they  nearly  pulled  me 
to  pieces  in  one  regiment.  You  never  heard  such  yell- 
ing." 

We  got  further  glimpses  of  his  views  of  Lincoln. 
Their  earlier  acquaintance,  and  its  resulting  opinion, 
was  most  unfortunate.  It  led  to  McClellan's  develop- 
ing a  sense  of  contempt  for  the  President,  while  he  had 
no  conception  whatever  of  his  greatness.  Lincoln,  too, 
probably  suffered  in  his  estimates  by  reason  of  his  con- 
tacts with  the  general  as  an  employe  of  the  railroad. 
He  comprehended  his  conceit  and  was  uncertain  of  his 
abilities,  which,  after  all,  were  very  considerable.  The 
first  reference  to  Lincoln  found  in  his  published  letters 
to  Mrs.  McClellan  reads:  "I  enclose  a  card  just  re- 
ceived from  'A.  Lincoln/  It  shows  too  much  defer- 
ence to  be  seen  outside." 

One  point  in  McClellan's  quarrel  with  Scott  was 
that  he  wanted  to  call  his  command  the  "Army  of  the 
Potomac,"  which  he  did.  The  old  man  preferred  to 
stick  to  the  department  plan,  justly  suspecting,  per- 
haps, that  McClellan's  greed  for  glory  was  at  the  bot- 
tom of  the  idea.  He  was  certainly  Napoleonic  in  all 
his  conduct.  Learning  that  a  committee  of  New  York 
bankers  were  urging  the  retirement  of  the  incompe- 
tent Cameron  as  Secretary  of  War:  "I  interfered,  and 
by  my  action  with  the  President,  no  doubt  saved  him." 

If  he  did,  it  was  but  briefly.  Edwin  M.  Stanton  was 


216       George  Brinton  McClellan 

soon  in  the  chair.  McClellan  says  Stanton  consulted 
him  about  accepting  what  meant  to  him  "a  great  sac- 
rifice." McClellan  advised  his  taking  the  place,  but 
uinstead  of  using  his  new  position  to  assist  me,  he 
threw  every  obstacle  in  my  way,  and  did  all  in  his 
power  to  create  difficulty  and  distrust  between  the 
President  and  myself.  I  soon  found  it  impossible  to 
gain  access  to  him."  Both  men  were  Democrats  at  the 
moment.  McClellan  believed  that  if  he  "had  been  suc- 
cessful in  his  first  campaign  the  war  would  perhaps, 
have  terminated  without  the  abolition  of  slavery," 
and  that  "the  leaders  of  the  radical  branch  of  the  Re- 
publican party  preferred  political  control  in  one  sec- 
tion of  a  divided  country,  to  being  in  the  minority  in  a 
restored  Union."  There  is  much  fact  to  support  the 
latter  opinion.  "Not  only  did  these  people  desire  the 
abolition  of  slavery"  he  observes,  "but  *  *  *  in  such 
a  manner  and  under  such  circumstances  that  the 
slaves  would  at  once  be  endowed  with  the  electoral 
franchise,  while  the  intelligent  white  man  of  the  South 
should  be  deprived  of  it" — -which  was  what  happened, 
long  enough  to  seal  the  "radicals"  in  power.  To  this 
he  attributed  the  falldown  of  his  peninsula  campaign, 
a  sound  strategic  move  that  came  near  to  success. 

The  real  cause  of  his  failure  was,  however,  his  ina- 
bility to  "warm  up"  to  the  President,  the  reason  for 
which,  beyond  doubt,  dated  back  to  their  Illinois  re- 
lationship. He  simply  would  not  accept  the  President 
at  even  part  value.  Once,  in  company  with  Secretary 
of  State  Seward,  the  President  called  at  McClellan's 
headquarters  on  the  Peninsula.  The  general  was  ab- 
sent. They  waited.  When  he  returned  he  went  upstairs, 


George  Brinton  McClellan       217 

though  advised  by  an  orderly  that  Mr.  Lincoln  and 
Mr.  Seward  were  waiting  to  see  him.  They  allowed 
some  time  to  elapse,  and  then,  thinking  he  might  not 
know  they  were  present,  sent  to  appraise  him.  Curt 
word  came  back  that  he  was  taking  a  nap  and  could 
not  be  disturbed.  That  the  tall  rail  splitter  did  not 
stride  up  the  steps  and  yank  the  warrior  from  his 
couch,  is  a  tribute  to  his  great  patience.  A  couple  of 
well-placed  kicks  would  have  been  ill-mannered,  but 
they  would  have  produced  action.  To  avoid  snubs,  the 
President  thereafter  called  war  councils  at  the  White 
House.  On  one  occasion,  at  least,  McClellan  did  not 
come.  Those  who  did  were  indignant.  "Never  mind," 
said  Mr.  Lincoln  more  than  indulgently.  "I  will  hold 
Mr.  McClelland  horse,  if  he  will  only  bring  us  suc- 
cess." 

It  chanced  that  following  the  appointment  of  Stan- 
ton, McClellan  fell  ill  with  typhoid.  Military  motion  in 
the  North  waited  upon  his  recovery;  not  that  of  the 
South.  McClellan  did  not  appreciate  the  President's 
patience.  "I  have  just  been  interrupted  by  the  Presi- 
dent and  Secretary  Seward"  he  remarks  after  recov- 
ering, "who  had  nothing  very  particular  to  say,  except 
some  stories  to  tell,  which  were,  as  usual,  very  perti- 
nent, and  some  pretty  good.  I  never  in  my  life  met  any 
one  so  full  of  anecdotes  as  our  friend.  He  is  never  at 
loss  for  a  story  apropos  of  any  known  subject  or  inci- 
dent." 

In  October,  1861,  there  was  some  fighting  at  Lees- 
burg.  "Horrible  butchery"  McCellan  called  it.  "Colo- 
nel Baker,  who  was  killed,  was  in  command  and  vio- 
lated   all    military    rules    and    precautions.    It    was 


218       George  Brinton  McClellan 

entirely  unauthorized  by  me,  and  I  am  in  no  manner 
responsible  for  it." 

When  Scott  retired  on  November  3,  1861,  McClel- 
lan escorted  him  to  the  depot  at  four  o'clock,  A.  M.,  in 
"pitch  dark  and  a  pouring  rain/'  and  at  once  assumed 
his  shoes  by  the  President's  appointment.  He  had 
reached  the  top  with  amazing  celerity.  Yet  his  eleva- 
tion produced  no  major  actions  on  his  part.  Subordi- 
nate commanders  were  doing  much  at  a  distance,  but 
the  heart  of  the  Confederacy  was  unassailed.  He  al- 
lowed Halleck  to  mistreat  Grant  after  the  victory  of 
Fort  Donelson,  that  meant  so  much  to  the  North,  and 
on  March  12,  1862,  was  relieved  of  his  duties  as  com- 
mander-in-chief and  given  that  of  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac,  in  a  hope  that  he  could  do  something  with 
the  splendid  force  he  had  created.  aThe  intelligence 
took  me  entirely  by  surprise"  he  states,  "breaking  the 
unity  of  action  which  it  was  my  purpose  to  enforce." 
It  was  this  unity  of  action  idea  that  brought  out  Mr. 
Lincoln's  famous  letter  of  February  3,  1862,  to  wit: 

Executive   Mansion, 
Washington,  Feb.  3,  1862. 

My  dear  Sir:  You  and  I  have  distinct  and  different  plans 
for  a  movement  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac;  yours  to  be 
done  by  the  Chesapeake,  up  the  Rappahannock  to  Urbana,  and 
across  land  to  the  terminus  of  the  railroad  on  the  York  river; 
mine  to  move  directly  to  a  point  on  the  railroad  southwest  of 
Manassas. 

If  you  will  give  satisfactory  answers  to  the  following  ques- 
tions I  shall  gladly  yield  my  plans  to  yours: 

1st.  Does  not  your  plan  involve  a  greatly  larger  expendi- 
ture of  time  and  money  than  mine? 


George  Brinton  McClellan        219 

2nd.  Wherein  is  a  victory  more  certain  by  your  plan  than 
mine  ? 

3rd.  Wherein  is  a  victory  more  valuable  by  your  plan  than 
mine  ? 

4th.  In  fact,  would  it  not  be  less  valuable  in  this;  that  it 
would  break  no  great  line  of  the  enemy's  communications,  while 
mine  would? 

5th.  In  case  of  disaster  would  not  a  retreat  be  more  difficult 
by  your  plan  than  mine? 

Yours  truly, 

Abraham  Lincoln. 

Despite  the  prodding,  all  remained  quiet  along  the 
Potomac.  It  would  be  tedious  to  recite  the  excuses  of 
which  the  general  avails  himself  in  his  memoirs.  He 
did  develop  some  motion  by  May.  The  peninsula  was 
invaded,  according  to  McClelland  plan.  The  Battle  of 
Williamsburg  was  fought  and  McClellan  won.  He 
pushed  on  toward  Richmond.  Hanover  Court  House 
followed.  Then  Fair  Oaks,  a  great  fight.  He  was 
steadily  winning  his  way,  but  his  reports  were  "incor- 
rectly printed"  and  "raised  a  tempest  in  a  tea  pot."  He 
"never  saw  such  petty  feeling"  in  his  life,  as  he  had 
seen  "developed  during  this  unhappy  war."  These  re- 
marks indicate  a  weakness  of  the  stomach.  He  was  in 
great  form,  however,  in  ceremonies.  The  Bourbon 
princes,  Count  de  Paris  and  de  Joinville,  were  on  his 
staff.  General  Prim  came  from  Spain  to  observe 
McClellan's  strategy.  His  camp  was  ornate  and  "mili- 
tary" to  the  last  degree.  Then  followed  the  famous 
seven  days'  fighting,  almost  in  sight  of  Richmond  and 
complete  victory.  What  stopped  its  course?  This  is 
McClellan's  version : 


220       George  Brinton  McClellan 

Headquarters,  Army  of  the  Potomac, 
Savage's  Station,  June  28,  1862,  12.  20  A.  M. 
Hon.  E.  M.  Stanton,  Secretary  of  War: 

I  now  know  the  full  history  of  the  day.  On  this  side  of  the 
river  (the  right  bank)  we  repulsed  several  strong  attacks.  On 
the  left  bank  our  men  did  all  that  men  could  do,  all  that  sol- 
diers could  accomplish,  but  they  were  overwhelmed  by  vastly 
superior  numbers,  even  after  I  brought  my  last  reserves  into 
action.  The  loss  on  both  sides  is  terrible.  I  believe  it  will  prove 
to  be  the  most  desperate  battle  of  the  war.  The  sad  remnants 
of  my  men  behave  as  men.  Those  battalions  who  fought  most 
bravely  and  suffered  most  are  still  in  the  best  order.  My  regu- 
lars were  superb,  and  I  count  upon  what  are  left  to  turn  an- 
other battle  in  company  with  their  gallant  comrades  of  the 
volunteers.  Had  I  twenty  thousand  (20,000),  or  even  ten 
thousand  (10,000),  fresh  troops  to  use  to-morrow,  I  could 
take  Richmond;  but  I  have  not  a  man  in  reserve,  and  shall  be 
glad  to  cover  my  retreat  and  save  the  material  and  personnel 
of  the  army. 

If  we  have  lost  the  day  we  have  yet  preserved  our  honor, 
and  no  one  need  blush  for  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  I  have 
lost  this  battle  because  my  force  was  too  small. 

I  again  repeat  that  I  am  not  responsible  for  this,  and  I  say 
it  with  the  earnestness  of  a  general  who  feels  in  his  heart  the 
loss  of  every  brave  man  who  has  been  needlessly  sacrificed  to- 
day. I  still  hope  to  retrieve  our  fortunes;  but  to  do  this  the 
government  must  view  the  matter  in  the  same  earnest  light 
that  I  do.  You  must  send  me  very  large  reinforcements,  but 
send  them  at  once.  I  shall  draw  back  to  this  side  of  the 
Chickahominy,  and  think  I  can  withdraw  all  our  material. 
Please  understand  that  in  this  battle  we  have  lost  nothing  but 
men,  and  those  the  best  we  have. 

In  addition  to  what  I  have  already  said,  I  only  wish  to 
say  to  the  President  that  I  think  he  is  wrong  in  regarding  me 
as  ungenerous  when  I  said  that  my  force  was  too  weak.   I 


George  Brinton  McClellan       221 

merely  intimated  a  truth  which  to-day  has  been  too  plainly 
proved.  If,  at  this  instant,  I  could  dispose  of  ten  thousand 
(10,000)  fresh  men,  I  could  gain  the  victory  to-morrow. 

I  know  that  a  few  thousand  more  men  would  have  changed 
this  battle  from  a  defeat  to  a  victory.  As  it  is,  the  government 
must  not  and  cannot  hold  me  responsible  for  the  result. 

I  feel  too  earnestly  to-night.  I  have  seen  too  many  dead  and 
wounded  comrades  to  feel  otherwise  than  that  the  government 
has  not  sustained  this  army.  If  you  do  not  do  so  now  the  game 
is  lost. 

If  I  save  this  army  now,  I  tell  you  plainly  that  I  owe  no 
thanks  to  you  or  to  any  other  person  in  Washington. 

You  have  done  your  best  to  sacrifice  this  army. 

G.  B.  McClellan. 
U.  S.  commander-in-chief. 

The  reflex  of  this  was  the  appointment  of  General 
H.  W.  Halleck,  "Two-faced"  McClellan  called  him, 
and  proves  it.  His  own  star  was  setting  fast  and  he 
saw  it  lowering.  There  was  certainly  enough  of  bat- 
tling. Harrison's  Landing,  Malvern  Hill,  Gaines' 
Mill,  were  all  to  his  credit.  Yet  Washington  gave  him 
no  hand.  "I  hear  nothing  from  Washington"  was  his 
report  to  his  wife  on  July  28,  1862,  "and  I  begin  to  be- 
lieve that  they  intend  to  and  hope  that  I  and  my  army 
may  melt  away  under  the  hot  sun." 

He  held,  properly,  that  the  war  should  be  fought 
on  the  line  of  the  James,  when  Washington  abruptly 
shifted  its  front.  The  advantages  gained  were  for- 
feited and  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  recalled  from 
ground  on  which  it  had  never  been  defeated.  It  was  re- 
centered  at  Alexandria.  Lee's  invasion  of  Maryland 
now  upset  Washington  anew,   and  McClellan  began 


222        George  Brinton  McClellan 

his  last  and  brief  campaign.  South  Mountain  was  a  vic- 
tory. "God  bless  you  and  all  with  you"  wired  Lincoln. 
Antietam  followed.  While  Lee  claimed  victory,  the 
palm  was  truly  McClellan's.  He  inflicted  the  most 
damage  and  held  the  field.  Of  Lee's  invading  host 
5,000  were  prisoners,  with  13  guns,  39  stands  of 
colors  and  15,000  small  arms.  The  dead  in  gray  lay 
thick  upon  the  fair  soil.  But  for  Burnside's  blundering 
it  might  well  be  believed  that  the  Army  of  Northern 
Virginia  could  have  been  destroyed — perhaps  in  spite 
of  it,  had  McClellan  developed  a  vigor  worthy  of  the 
occasion.  He  had  done  much,  and  in  his  mind  it 
justified  his  neglect  to  do  more.  Of  his  generals 
Mansfield  was  dead;  Hooker,  Richardson  and  Sedg- 
wick wounded.  No  army  ever  fought  better  or  more 
bravely.  They  had  earned  a  rest.  This  they  took — 
with  the  result  that  a  war,  which  might  then  and  there 
have  been  ended,  went  on.  Lee  abandoned  Maryland 
and  turned  back  across  the  Potomac,  to  stay  there  until 
his  last  effort  that  ended  much  as  at  Antietam,  at  Get- 
tysburg, where  Meade  did  exactly  as  did  McClellan 
in  not  following  up  his  victory.  He  did  not,  however, 
lose  his  command. 

Not  one  word  came  from  Lincoln  to  McClellan 
after  Antietam  to  hail  the  result  and  nothing  but 
"plenty  from  Halleck,  couched  in  almost  insulting  lan- 
guage." Clearly,  his  success  was  a  disappointment  at 
headquarters.  He  had  taken  the  field  on  a  verbal  order 
from  Lincoln.  The  Secretary  of  War  and  the  bureau- 
crats would  have  none  of  it.  McClellan  trusted  that  he 
had  been  "re-established  in  the  confidence  of  the  best 
people  of  the  nation."  He  thought  he  ought  to  treat 


Photograph  by   Herbert  Photos.,   Inc. 

GEORGE    B.    McCLELLAN 


George  Brinton  McClellan        223 

Burnside  very  severely  and  probably  would,  as  slow 
and  not  fit  to  command  more  than  a  regiment.  Before 
he  acted,  the  most  amazing  performance  of  the  many 
that  made  the  conflict  a  reproach  to  intelligence  and 
patriotism,  came  to  pass. 

The  battle  ended  on  September  18th.  McClellan 
deliberately  "weighed"  the  chances.  He  concluded  that 
if,  by  any  mischance  he  was  defeated,  the  way  was  open 
for  Lee  to  march  unmolested  to  the  great  cities  of  the 
North.  He  therefore  decided  upon  caution,  recupera- 
tion and  the  awaiting  of  reinforcements  to  repair  his 
losses.  The  resulting  outcry  brushed  away  all  just  views 
of  what  he  had  really  done.  Mr.  Lincoln,  in  company 
with  O.  M.  Hatch,  an  Illinois  friend,  visited  the  camp. 
Viewing  it  from  a  commanding  hilltop,  Lincoln  re- 
marked : 

"Hatch,  what's  all  this?" 

"That's  the  Army  of  the  Potomac." 

"No,  Hatch,  no.  That's  McClellan's  bodyguard." 

It  was  more  than  that.  It  was  a  splendidly-made 
and  well-cared-for  army,  better  than  any  that  was  to 
succeed  it.  Thus  it  will  be  perceived  that  old  opinions 
affected  the  usually  wise  President. 

On  November  7,  1862,  late  in  the  evening,  came  an 
end  to  all  his  glory  and  of  his  military  service  to  the 
United  States.  Ambrose  E.  Burnside  entered  his  quar- 
ters with  Stanton's  Adjutant — Buckingham.  They  bore 
an  order  giving  the  command  of  the  fine  army  he  had 
made  to  the  incompetent  Burnside,  with  instructions 
for  McClellan  to  repair  to  Trenton,  N.  J.,  and  there 
await  orders  that  were  never  to  come.  "They  have 
made  a  great  mistake,"  he  commented  to  his  wife. 


224       George  Brinton  McClellan 

"Alas  for  my  poor  country !  I  know  in  my  inmost  heart 
she  never  had  a  truer  sevant." 

In  retrospect  he  could  see  that  he  had  made  errors, 
but  "no  great  blunders" — which  was  entirely  true.  He 
departed  on  Monday,  November  10,  1862,  from  War- 
rentown.  "The  officers  and  men  felt  terribly  about  the 
change/'  he  informed  Mrs.  McClellan.  "The  men  are 
very  sullen  and  have  lost  their  good  spirits  entirely. 
It  made  me  feel  very  badly  yesterday  when  I  rode 
among  them  and  saw  how  bright  and  cheerful  they 
were  and  how  glad  they  were  to  see  me.  Poor  fellows ! 
They  did  not  know  the  change  that  had  occurred." 

Of  his  departure  he  made  this  rather  curious  chron- 
icle :  "I  am  very  well  and  taking  leave  of  the  men.  I 
did  not  know  before  how  much  they  loved  me,  nor  how 
dear  they  were  to  me.  Gray-haired  men  came  to  me 
with  tears  streaming  down  their  cheeks.  I  never  before 
had  to  exercise  so  much  self-control.  The  scenes  of  to- 
day repay  me  for  all  I  have  endured." 

That  he  was 'more  exultant  than  depressed  can  easily 
be  imagined.  Feeling  himself  much  more  popular  than 
the  President,  and  more  competent  than  any  general 
who  had  appeared  or  was  likely  to,  he  sat  back  com- 
placently awaiting  the  call  that  he  was  certain  would 
come.  Events  pointed  strongly  in  that  direction  for 
many  a  despondent  day.  Burnside's  blunders,  result- 
ing in  the  butchery  of  Fredericksburg,  soon  set  him 
aside.  General  after  general  tried  the  task  only  to 
fail.  Grant  of  whom  much  was  expected  had  been 
stopped  by  Lee  with  terrible  slaughter  at  Cold  Har- 
bor. The  renominated  Lincoln  was  depressed  as  the 
Democrats  gathered  at  Chicago,  August  29,  1864,  with 


George  Brinton  McClellan       225 

»i  ■ 

the  very  definite  determination  of  nominating  McClel- 
lan. The  convention  contained  many  men  of  differing 
views,  but  none  as  to  the  candidate.  War  Democrats, 
Copperheads  and  Clement  L.  Vallandigham  back  from 
his  comic  exile  into  the  Confederacy,  were  all  among 
those  present.  August  Belmont,  the  New  York  banker, 
agent  for  the  Rothschilds,  called  the  gathering  to  or- 
der and  Horatio  Seymour,  of  New  York,  became  per- 
manent chairman.  He  made  a  very  impressive  speech 
to  the  text  that  the  war  as  carried  on  by  Lincoln  was  a 
failure:  "This  administration  cannot  now  save  the 
Union  if  it  would,"  he  declared.  "It  has  by  its  procla- 
mation, by  vindictive  legislation,  by  display  of  hate  and 
passion,  placed  obstacles  in  its  pathway  which  it  can- 
not overcome,  and  has  hampered  its  own  freedom  by 
unconstitutional  acts.  This  administration  cannot  save 
this  Union,  we  can.  Mr.  Lincoln  values  many  things 
above  the  Union;  we  put  it  first  of  all.  He  thinks  a 
proclamation  is  worth  more  than  peace.  We  think  the 
blood  of  our  people  more  precious  than  the  edicts  of  a 
President.  We  demand  no  condition  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  Union.  We  are  shackled  with  no  hates,  no 
prejudices,  no  passions. " 

Vallandigham  put  through  a  resolution  demanding 
that  a  convention  or  some  other  unmilitary  means  be 
employed  to  bring  about  peace.  On  the  first  ballot 
McClellan  received  202  y2  votes  and  his  nomination 
was  made  unanimous.  George  H.  Pendleton,  of  Ohio, 
was  selected  as  the  nominee  for  Vice-President.  When 
the  convention  adjourned  fate  was  seemingly  against 
the  North.  From  his  shelf  in  Trenton,  McClellan 
gazed  complacently  upon  the  dismal  scene.  He  was  be- 


226       George  Brinton  McClellan 

yond  doubt  a  great  favorite  with  his  soldiers,  and  an 
able  general.  The  Democrats  of  the  North  felt  that  he 
had  been  deposed  because  his  fame  made  him  a  Presi- 
dential possibility,  which  was  true,  though  swifter 
work  with  the  sword  would  have  saved  him.  Disaster 
after  disaster  had  vindicated  McClellan.  If  he  had  not 
succeeded,  at  least  he  had  not  failed. 

To  add  to  the  popular  discontent,  the  badly  led 
Army  of  the  Potomac  made  no  secret  of  its  dissatis- 
faction. It  wailed  with  much  fervor  a  mournful  lay, 
written  by  Septimus  Winner,  composer  of  "Listen  to 
the  Mocking  Bird,"  probably  the  most  popular  Amer- 
ican melody,  who  possessed  the  art  of  concocting  sobby 
songs.  This  was  "Give  Us  Back  Our  Old  Com- 
mander." It  was  forever  echoing,  to  the  deep  annoy- 
ance of  the  several  luckless  generals.  Winner  also  com- 
posed "Tenting  To-Night  on  the  Old  Camp  Ground, 
Waiting  for  the  War  to  Cease,"  a  song  that  greatly 
angered  Secretary  of  War  Edwin  M.  Stanton.  He 
thought  Winner  deserved  hanging  for  writing  it. 

Lincoln  was  highly  apprehensive  of  defeat.  To  cap- 
ture "war"  Democrats  he  dropped  Hannibal  Hamlin, 
of  Maine,  as  Vice-President,  and  took  on  Andrew 
Johnson  of  Tennessee.  John  C.  Fremont  had  been 
nominated  at  a  Cleveland  convention,  together  with 
Charles  Francis  Adams,  as  an  independent  candidate. 
Lincoln  removed  his  Postmaster-General,  Montgom- 
ery Blair  to  propitiate  him,  and  so  secured  his  with- 
drawal. He  annexed  James  Gordon  Bennett,  of  the 
New  York  Herald  by  a  hint  that  he  would  be  offered 
the  embassy  to  France  and  pulled  the  offish  Horace 
Greeley  into  the  fold  by  the  intimations  that  he  would 


»SL=±3ZateFj£^ 


H* 


THE    GREATEST    VICTOKY    YET! 

MAJOR-GENERAL     McCLELLAN     PUTS    TO     FLIGHT     GENERAL    INTEMPERANCE   AND  ■  ARMT. 


McCLELLAN   AND    THE    DRINK    EVIL 

A  vicious  attack  upon  "Little  Mac,"  depicting  him  as  a  huge  whiskey  bottle,  yet  on 
the  rampage  against  drinking  in  the  army.     From  Vanit.n  Fair,  August  17,  1861 


George  Brinton  McClellan       227 

become  Postmaster-General  when  the  Cabinet  was  re- 
organized. This  brought  the  two  most  potential  papers 
in  America  to  his  support.  The  success  of  Sherman's 
March  to  the  Sea,  offset  in  a  measure  Grant's  bloody 
failures  that  ended  in  the  stalemate  at  Petersburg. 
The  Lincoln  outlook  grew  brighter  toward  election 
day.  Yet  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  President 
was  saved  by  the  votes  of  the  soldiers  in  the  field, 
carefully  counted  in  his  interest.  The  electoral  college 
gave  Lincoln  212  votes,  McClellan  but  21.  But,  on 
the  popular  vo?e  the  President  led  the  general  by  but 
407,342  votes.  The  totals  were  respectively  2,216,067 
and  1,808,725.  Kentucky,  New  Jersey  and  Delaware 
were  the  only  States  supporting  McClellan.  Mary- 
land was  dragooned  by  military  under  Lew  Wallace 
and  in  no  sense  was  the  contest  fair.  Defeat  would 
have  saved  Lincoln's  life  and  shattered  his  fame. 
Would  McClellan  have  compromised  with  the  Con- 
federacy? Probably. 

Thus  McClellan's  star  set.  He  resigned  his  commis- 
sion in  the  army  election  day,  November  9,  1864.  Fol- 
lowing his  defeat  he  lived  much  in  Dresden,  where  his 
son,  in  time  to  become  Mayor  George  B.  McClellan 
of  New  York,  was  born.  Returning  home,  he  was 
elected  Governor  of  New  Jersey  as  a  Democrat,  in 
1877.  His  term  over  he  again  found  it  more  agreeable 
to  live  abroad.  He  died  at  Maywood,  his  home  on  Or- 
ange Mountain,  N.  J.,  in  the  night  following  October 
28,  1885,  of  an  acute  heart  attack,  sitting  in  his  fav- 
orite arm  chair.  They  buried  him  at  Trenton. 


XII 
HORATIO  SEYMOUR 

DISTINGUISHED   DEMOCRAT 

NEW  YORK  has  furnished  the  country  with 
some  of  its  most  distinguished  Democrats 
among  whom  must  be  listed  Horatio  Sey- 
mour, of  Utica.  He  was  a  small-town  product  having 
come  into  life  at  Pompey,  Onondaga  County,  May  31, 
1 8 10.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1832,  and  became 
active  in  the  fervid  Jacksonian  political  school  oper- 
ated in  his  state  by  Martin  Van  Buren.  In  1841  he 
went  to  the  state  legislature;  in  1842  he  was  elected 
mayor  of  Utica.  Continuing  his  legislative  career  he 
became  speaker  of  the  House  in  1845  on  tne  S1de  °f 
William  L.  Marcy,  and  against  Silas  Wright.  Van  Bu- 
ren was  now  a  Free-Soiler,  but  Seymour  stuck  to  the 
Democracy  of  the  Marcy  brand.  He  was  rewarded  by 
being  nominated  for  Governor  in  1850  against  Wash- 
ington Hunt. 

Hunt  was  a  Whig  in  name  .but  an  Abolitionist  and 
anti-renter,  the  last  term  being  applied  to  those  who 
supported  the  people  against  the  exactions  of  the  land 
companies  and  of  great  estates  like  that  handed  down 
by  Patroon  Van  Renssalaer.  The  New  York  Herald 
supported  Seymour,  who  had  strong  backing  in  the 
city,  but  "up-state"  elected  Hunt.  In  1852  Seymour 

228 


Horatio  Seymour 229 

tried  it  again,  this  time  with  success.  Following  the 
Washingtonian  movement  Prohibition  gained  enough 
strength  in  the  legislature,  under  the  leadership  of  a 
senator,  Myron  H.  Clark,  who  kept  a  hardware  store 
in  Canandaigua,  to  secure  the  passage  of  a  law  stop- 
ping the  sale  of  liquor  in  the  state.  This  Seymour  ve- 
toed. 

In  the  interim  politics  became  a  much  mixed  affair. 
The  Know-Nothings,  an  ancient  form  of  the  modern 
Ku  Klux  Klan  were  in  force,  Prohibition  was  stronger 
after  the  veto  and  the  Whigs  were  divided  on  slavery, 
though  most  of  them  followed  Seward.  The  party  was 
on  its  last  legs,  and  out  of  this  muddle  in  1854  came 
the  Republicans.  Seward  and  Weed  effected  a  fusion 
with  the  Drys  and  nominated  Clark  with  Henry  J. 
Raymond,  editor  of  the  New  York  Times  as  Lieuten- 
ant Governor.  The  Democrats  split  on  Free-Soil,  one 
branch  endorsing  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill,  the  other 
upholding  the  policies  of  Franklin  Pierce.  The  last  lot 
renominated  Seymour;  the  Know-Nothings  put  up 
Daniel  Ullman.  Being  a  secret  order  like  the  Klan,  no 
one  could  correctly  figure  their  number.  The  biggest 
estimate  credited  them  with  60,000.  They  polled 
122,282  votes.  The  Free-Soil  Democrat  Greene  C. 
Bronson  had  33,850,  Seymour  156,495  and  Clark 
156,804,  winning  by  a  plurality  of  309.  The  legislature 
was  again  dry  and  once  more  passed  a  Prohibition  act. 
It  was  signed  by  Clark  and  was  in  effect  six  months, 
when  the  courts  declared  it  unconstitutional. 

Seymour  remained  pent  up  in  Utica,  but  took  active 
part  in  state  politics.  I  have  a  memory  of  a  tale  told 
by  my  old  friend  Lucien  Brock  Proctor,  long  secretary 


230  Horatio  Seymour 

of  the  New  York  State  Bar  Association,  concerning  a 
trip  to  Elmira  with  the  Governor  to  attend  a  Demo- 
cratic State  Convention.  The  party  travelled  by  the 
Erie  and  Chemung  canals.  Seymour  had  chartered  a 
brand-new  canal-boat,  fitted  it  up  with  cots,  a  cook  and 
a  barrel  of  rye.  A  pleasant  time  was  had  by  all.  He 
related  another  story  of  interest.  In  that  era  arson  was 
a  capital  offense.  Proctor  had  for  a  client  a  colored  boy 
in  Dansville,  who  was  convicted  of  burning  a  barn  out 
of  spite  and  sentenced  to  be  hanged.  He  took  the  case 
to  Seymour,  then  Governor,  who  declined  to  inter- 
vene. Taking  the  doleful  tidings  to  the  negro's  cell,  he 
broke  the  news  as  gently  as  he  could;  but  concluding, 

"Jim,  you  must  be  hanged." 

"My  God,  Mr.  Proctor"  cried  the  boy,  "I  don't 
see  how  I  can  ever  live  through  it !" 

Proctor  hastened  back  to  Albany  and  told  the  story. 
Seymour  laughed,  "We  shall  have  to  fix  it  so  he  does," 
and  made  it  a  life  sentence.  In  a  few  years  the  law  was 
modified  and  "Jim"  was  pardoned.  A  thorough  going 
Democrat  of  high  principles  and  a  gentleman  beside, 
Seymour  stood  in  shining  contrast  to  Thurlow  Weed 
and  his  law  selling  associates.  He  was  not  shifty  as 
Seward  was  accused  of  being  and  he  kept  good  com- 
pany. There  were  those  who  hoped  he  might  be  nom- 
inated at  the  Charleston  Convention  in  i860.  When 
secession  broke  he  was  unquestionably  for  the  Union 
which  did  not  mean  the  endorsement  of  the  Republi- 
can party  as  most  of  its  members  came  to  believe.  He 
felt  it  was  feasible  to  be  loyal  without  abandoning 
Jefferson,  and  that  in  the  heated  time,  under  the  great 
war  powers  of  the  President,  there  was  all  the  more 


Horatio  Seymour 231 

need  of  a  cool-headed,  intelligent  opposition.  This  he 
strove  to  supply. 

In  1862  he  was  nominated  and  elected  governor. 
His  victory  came  upon  the  heels  of  the  Emancipation 
proclamation  which  had  the  effect  that  Weed  and 
Seward  feared.  Weed  was  sure  the  party  would  be 
wrecked.  He  was  vindicated  to  an  extent  by  the  elec- 
tion of  results  that  followed,  one  of  which  was  the  vic- 
tory of  Seymour.  It  was  a  severe  set  back  for  the  ad- 
ministration but  a  good  thing  in  itself.  Seymour  did 
not  believe  in  the  dragonnades  of  Stanton,  the  sus- 
pension of  the  habeas  corpus  or  the  filling  of  jails  with 
citizens,  suspected  only  of  disloyalty.  Nor  did  he  be- 
lieve in  the  substitute  system  that  allowed  the  well-to- 
do  to  buy  themselves  out  of  the  ranks.  He  also  be- 
lieved in  conserving  the  constitutional  rights  of  the 
states  that  remained  in  the  Union,  something  Stanton 
and  Seward  had  become  careless  about. 

In  his  inauguration  address  Seymour  was  free  to 
criticize  the  conduct  of  the  war,  though  he  had  spoken 
on  the  side  of  the  North  during  the  campaign.  Men 
who  chose  to  be  Democrats  had  a  hard  time  in  the 
community.  They  were  "Copperheads" — venomous 
snakes  to  the  fervid  patriots.  Yet  the  evils  Seymour 
complained  of  were  real,  acts  of  despotism  that  did  not 
require  acceptance  as  a  means  of  winning  the  war.  If 
the  South  had  abandoned  the  Union  for  Constitutional 
reasons,  there  was  no  reason  why  the  document  should 
have  been  perverted  and  ignored  in  the  North,  as  it 
was  in  the  fury  of  ill-feeling  and  governmental  aggran- 
dizement. As  James  Ford  Rhodes  asserts:  "The 
course  which  he  (Seymour)  laid  out,  was  in  the  main 


232  Horatio  Seymour 

the  right  one  for  the  opposition,  and,  while  his  mes- 
sage was  exasperating,  there  is  little  in  it  that  ought 
to  receive  condemnation  at  the  judgment  bar  of  his- 
tory." 

Indeed  the  cause  of  the  North  looked  dark.  Peace 
moves  were  in  the  air.  The  North  was  tired  of  slaugh- 
ter and  defeat.  Critical  convocations  were  held  in 
Ohio,  at  Springfield,  Illinois,  Lincoln's  home  town, 
and  at  Albany  where  Seymour  was  heard  impres- 
sively. His  influence  was  great  and  naturally  his  stand 
alarmed  the  Administration,  which  was  saved  in  the 
nick  of  time  by  the  victories  at  Port  Hudson,  Vicks- 
burg  and  Gettysburg.  These  checked  the  "war  is  a 
failure"  cry,  but  did  not  serve  to  stop  the  opposition 
to  the  draft  which  broke  out  in  a  tenement  section  of 
New  York  on  July  13,  1863.  The  reason  lay  in  alleged 
inequalities  which  impressed  the  poor  and  gave  the 
fortunate  a  chance  to  escape  donning  uniforms.  Riot- 
ing began  on  Monday  and  the  mob  soon  had  the  city 
at  its  mercy.  Governor  Seymour  was  at  Long  Branch 
for  an  outing.  He  hurried  to  the  city  and  on  Tuesday 
addressed  a  disorderly  crowd  in  front  of  the  City 
Hall,  around  which  they  gathered  in  an  attempt  to  de- 
stroy the  Tribune  office  and  lynch  Horace  Greeley. 
Endeavoring  to  oil  the  troubled  water  he  made  an  er- 
ror that  plagued  him  all  his  life  by  beginning:  "My 
friends."  Then  he  continued :  "I  have  come  down  here 
from  the  quiet  of  the  country  to  see  what  was  the  dif- 
ficulty— to  learn  what  all  this  trouble  was  concerning 
the  draft.  Let  me  assure  you  that  I  am  your  friend! 
(Uproarious  cheers.)  You  have  been  my  friends," 
(Yes,  yes,  that's  it.  We  are  and  will  be  again.)  "and 


Horatio  Seymour  233 

now  I  assure  you  fellow  citizens  that  I  am  here  to  show 
you  a  test  of  my  friendship.  (Cheers.)  I  wish  to  in- 
form you  that  I  have  sent  my  adjutant  general  to 
Washington  to  confer  with  the  authorities  there,  and 
to  have  this  draft  suspended  and  stopped.  (Vocifer- 
ous cheers.)  I  now  ask  you  as  good  citizens,  to  wait  for 
his  return,  and  I  assure  you  that  I  will  do  all  that  I 
can  to  see  that  there  is  no  inequality  and  no  wrong 
done  anyone.  I  wish  you  to  take  good  care  of  all  prop- 
erty, as  good  citizens,  and  see  that  every  person  is  safe. 
The  safe  keeping  of  property  and  persons  rests  with 
you,  and  I  charge  you  to  disturb  neither.  It  is  your 
duty  to  maintain  the  good  order  of  the  city,  and  I 
know  you  will  do  it.  I  wish  you  now  to  separate  as 
good  citizens,  and  sometime  assemble  again  should 
you  wish  to  do  so;  I  ask  you  to  leave  all  to  me  now, 
and  I  will  see  to  your  rights.  Wait  till  my  adjutant  gen- 
eral returns  from  Washington,  and  you  shall  be  sat- 
isfied." 

The  good  citizens  "separated"  to  form  new  mobs, 
destroy  more  property  and  effect  new  outrages.  In  an- 
other day  the  military  took  over  the  city  and  show- 
ered it  with  rifle  fire.  Probably  1,000  people  were 
killed  or  wounded,  mostly  rioters.  Several  millions 
of  dollars  worth  of  property  were  destroyed:  the 
victims  of  the  mobs  were  mainly  negroes. 

The  negro  orphan  asylum  at  Fifth  Avenue  and  Fifti- 
eth Street  was  burned.  Some  fifty  structures  were  de- 
stroyed and  many  more  pillaged.  It  was  a  terrible 
affair  in  all  features  and  the  Governor's  course  re- 
dounded greatly  to  his  discredit.  The  Draft  however 
was  stopped,  to  be  resumed  and  peacefully  carried 


234  Horatio  Seymour 

out  with  some  sensible  modifications  a  few  weeks 
later.  Victory  seemed  nearer  to  the  North  and  op- 
position died  down  for  the  time  being;  to  recur  less 
violently  the  next  year  after  Grant's  failure  in  his 
"all  summer"  campaign  and  the  impasse  at  Peter- 
burg. 

"Copperhead"  papers  like  the  New  York  News  and 
Express  sustained  the  Governor  and  invited  him  to 
call  out  the  militia  to  stop  the  illegal  drafting.  He 
was  sever'ely  criticized  in  other  quarters.  Richard 
Grant  White  in  "The  New  Gospel  of  Peace"  a  satire 
written  in  Biblical  style  dubbed  him  "Seemer,"  also 
"Say  More"  because  "he  could  say  more  and  mean 
less  than  any  other  man"  in  the  country,  and  "See 
More"  because  there  was  no  man  "who  could  see  more 
ways  of  making  trouble  for  others  and  getting  out 
of  it  himself." 

Yet  no  "war  governor"  had  responded  so  promptly 
and  fully  as  Seymour  when  President  Lincoln  called 
for  troops  to  repel  Lee's  invasion  of  Pennsylvania. 
"I  will  spare  no  efforts  to  send  you  troops  at  once" 
he  advised  Secretary  of  War  Stanton,  and  he  did  not. 
New  York  played  a  noble  part  in  the  repulse  of  the 
Confederates  on  that  decisive  field.  The  wise  and  pru- 
dent President  in  acceding  the  cessation  of  the  draft 
recognized  Seymour's  power  and  did  not  doubt  his 
underlying  patriotism.  He  wrote  him  a  personal  letter 
desiring  to  get  "better  acquainted,"  hoping  thereby 
to  arrive  at  "a  better  understanding"  in  their  mu- 
tual desire  to  maintain  the  "nation's  life  and  integrity." 
Seymour  replied  formally,  promising  a  public  com- 
munication of  leng.th,  in  which  he  would  give  his  views 


Horatio  Seymour  235 

concerning  "the  condition  of  our  unhappy  country." 
Before  he  could  frame  this  C.  L.  Vallandigham, 
preacher  of  peace,  was  arrested,  tried  by  court  martial 
and  deported  to  the  Confederacy.  Seymour  denounced 
this  as  an  unwarranted  proceeding  and  never  wrote 
the  promised  reply.  Arbitrary  arrests  grew  in  number 
and  Seymour  froze  up.  He  was  not  alone  in  his  in- 
dignation, so  fine  a  gentleman  as  Robert  C.  Winthrop 
endorsing  his  view.  When  McCellan  was  nominated 
Seymour  presided  at  the  Chicago  Convention.  He 
also  went  on  the  stump  and  made  his  influence  felt. 
The  suppression  of  newspapers  had  accompanied  the 
arrests.  "In  Great  Britain"  asserted  Seymour  in  one 
of  his  addresses,  "the  humblest  hut  in  the  Kingdom, 
though  it  may  be  open  to  the  winds  and  the  rains  of 
heaven,  is  to  the  occupant  a  castle  impregnable  even 
to  the  monarch,  while  in  our  country  the  meanest  and 
most  unworthy  underling  of  power  is  licensed  to 
break  within  the  sacred  precincts  of  our  homes." 

This  was  only  too  true.  Fort  Lafayette  in  New 
York  harbor  and  Fort  Warren  in  that  of  Boston,  were 
crowded  with  alleged  sympathizers  with  the  South. 
Men  paid  off  grudges  by  securing  the  arrest  of  neigh- 
bors, few  or  none  of  whom  were  ever  tried.  They 
were  simply  caged  during  the  conflict  or  until  Lincoln 
himself  could  be  reached  and  his  sense  of  justice 
touched.  Seymour  was  defeated  when  renominated 
in  1864.  The  war  ended  and  he  kept  himself  in  quiet 
repose  at  Utica  where  he  was  greatly  esteemed,  but 
from  which  he  was  to  be  once  more  drafted  into  the 
limelight. 

The  Democratic  National  Convention  of  1868  was. 


236  Horatio  Seymour 

held  in  Tammany  Hall,  New  York,  July  4,  1868.  It 
was  a  notable  occasion.  For  the  first  time  since  i860 
the  South  was  represented,  and  by  Confederate  gen- 
erals, in  some  number  at  least,  including  such  figures 
as  Nathan  Bedford  Forrest  of  Tennessee,  Wade 
Hampton  of  South  Carolina,  and  William  Preston 
of  Tennessee.  Other  eminent  ex-Confederates  were 
R.  Barnwell  Rhett  (born  Smith)  who  as  editor  of  the 
Charleston  Courier  had  been  a  foremost  fire-eater, 
Benjamin  H.  Hill  of  Georgia,  Zebulon  B.  Vance,  of 
North  Carolina,  A.  H.  Garland,  of  Arkansas,  Randall 
L.  Gibson,  and  James  B.  Eustis,  of  Louisiana,  and 
Thomas  S.  Bocock,  of  Virginia,  ex-speaker  of  the  Con- 
federate Congress. 

Northern  Democrats  of  note  in  attendance  were 
George  H.  Pendleton  of  Ohio  ("Gentleman  George" 
they  called  him),  Allen  G.  Thurman,  from  the  same 
state,  William  R.  Morrison  of  Illinois,  Clement  L. 
Vallandigham,  the  much  talked  about  peace  man  from 
Ohio  in  the  war  period,  James  A.  Bayard  of  Delaware, 
and  Joseph  E.  McDonald  and  D.  W.  Voorhees,  of 
Indiana. 

The  South  had  sent  out  a  call  voiced  by  Wade 
Hampton,  to  secure  Democratic  support  in  that  region 
which  was  under  reconstruction  and  a  long  ways  from 
"solid."  He  pointed  out  that  hopes  of  getting  back 
where  they  belonged  lay  solely  with  the  Democrats. 
This  was  made  good  use  of  by  the  supporters  of  Grant 
in  the  campaign  that  followed. 

Henry  M.  Palmer,  of  Wisconsin  called  the  Con- 
vention to  order.  Then  Horatio  Seymour  was  made 
permanent  Chairman.  James  G.  Blaine  in  his  Twenty 


Photograph  by  Brown  Brothers 


HORATIO    SEYMOUR 


Horatio  Seymour  237 

Years  of  Congress,  says  of  Seymour,  apropos  of  this 
occasion:  "His  admirers  looked  to  him  as  a  political 
sage,  who,  if  not  less  partisan  than  his  associates 
was  more  prudent  and  politic  in  his  counsels.  No 
other  leader  commanded  so  large  a  share  of  the  con- 
fidence and  devotion  of  his  party.  No  other  equalled 
him  in  the  art  of  giving  a  velvety  touch  to  its  worst 
and  most  dangerous  blows,  or  of  presenting  the  work 
of  its  adversaries  in  the  most  questionable  guise.  It 
was  his  habit  to  thread  the  mazes  of  economic  and 
fiscal  discussion,  and  he  was  never  so  eloquent  or 
apparently  so  contented  as  when  he  was  painting  a 
vivid  picture  of  the  burdens  under  which  he  imagined 
the  country  to  be  suffering,  or  giving  a  fanciful  picture 
of  what  might  have  been  if  Democratic  rule  had  con- 
tinued. From  the  beginning  of  the  war  he  had  illus- 
trated the  highest  accomplishments  of  political  ora- 
tory in  bewailing,  like  the  prophetess  of  old,  the  com- 
ing woes  which  never  came.  In  his  address  on  the 
present  occasion  he  arraigned  the  Republican  party 
for  imposing  oppressive  taxes,  for  inflicting  upon  the 
country,  a  depreciated  currency,  and  imposing  a  mili- 
tary despotism." 

These  are  the  tributes  of  an  extremely  partisan  Re- 
publican, whose  party  had  quite  truly  done  all  the 
things  noted.  Moreover,  before  the  convention  so  set 
in  motion,  as  a  conspicuous  candidate  was  Chief  Jus- 
tice Salmon  P.  Chase,  who  had,  as  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  under  Lincoln,  poured  out  the  flood  of  Green- 
backs that  "depreciated  the  currency,"  and  who  was 
later  to  render  a  decision  that  they  were  not  legal 
tender.  Pendleton  had  brought  to  the  Hall  what  was 


238  Horatio  Seymour 

to  be  called  the  "Ohio  idea,"  "that  all  the  obligations 
of  the  government,  not  payable  by  these  express  terms 
in  coin,  ought  to  be  paid  in  lawful  money."  That  is 
the  money  which  everybody  but  the  government  had 
to  take  if  they  wanted  any.  Blaine  brazenly  termed 
this  a  "distinct  adoption  of  the  Greenback  heresy." 
The  soldiers  who  risked  their  lives  to  save  the  coun- 
try, and  had  families  to  feed,  were  paid  with  it  what- 
ever value  it  might  at  the  moment  have.  Naturally 
many  people  could  not  see  why  the  government  should 
exact  gold  for  all  its  obligations,  and  refuse  to  accept 
its  own  currency. 

It  seemed  certain  that  Mr.  Pendleton  would  be 
nominated  with  this  plank  in  the  platform.  Andrew 
Johnson,  who  had  so  narrowly  escaped  impeachment, 
was  also  a  candidate  and  received  65  votes  on  the 
first  ballot.  Pendleton  had  105.  Others  were  Judge 
Sanford  E.  Church,  of  New  York,  34;  Asa  Packer, 
of  Pennsylvania,  a  first  class  magnate,  24;  James  E. 
English,  of  Indiana,  16,  while  General  Winfield  Scott 
Hancock  scored  23-  Thomas  A.  Hendricks  of  In- 
diana developed  some  strength  on  the  third  day.  So 
far  fate  did  not  point  to  Seymour,  who  indeed  had  re- 
peatedly declared  that  he  was  not  a  candidate.  Pen- 
dleton's highest  vote  was  159%.  The  tide  turned  to- 
ward Hancock,  who  received  I44>4.  This  was  on  the 
eighteenth  ballot.  The  convention  then  adjourned.  Un- 
der ordinary  circumstances  it  would  be  assumed  that 
Hancock  was  the  country's  choice.  "But"  observes 
Blaine  in  malicious  comment,  "it  was  not  expected.  It 
was  indeed  against  the  logic  of  the  situation  that  a 
Democratic  convention  could  at  that  time  select  a  dis- 


Horatio  Seymour  239 

tinguished  Union  general,  of  conservative  record  and 
cautious  mind,  for  a  Presidential  candidate." 

New  York  was  for  Chase,  to  whom  Pendleton  was 
firmly  opposed,  as  was  reasonable  for  the  father  of 
the  "Ohio  idea."  He  therefore  executed  the  clever 
manoeuvre  of  throwing  his  following  to  Seymour, 
whose  name  had  not  hitherto  been  mentioned  in  the 
balloting.  Ohio  withdrew  Pendleton's  name  when  the 
convention  reconvened,  and  after  one  indecisive  ballot, 
in  which  it  had  not  shared,  the  Ohio  delegation  came 
in  shouting  for  Seymour.  He  dissented  from  the  chair 
but  New  York  swung  to  him.  State  after  state  fol- 
lowed and  on  the  twenty-second  roll  call  he  was  unan- 
imously nominated.  William  Preston,  an  ex-Confeder- 
ate Brigadier,  named  Frank  P.  Blair,  of  Missouri,  for 
Vice-President,  and  Wade  Hampton  seconded.  He  was 
nominated. 

The  October  elections,  though  close  in  some  in- 
stances, were  adverse.  This  was  laid  to  the  overweight 
of  Blair,  who  was  considered  Southern,  because  he  had 
visited  Richmond  on  a  mission  of  peace,  with  Lincoln's 
consent  towards  the  end  of  the  war.  The  New  York 
World  edited  by  Manton  Marble  loudly  demanded  his 
retirement.  He  stuck,  however. 

Seymour  took  the  stump  in  an  endeavor  to  recover 
lost  ground,  making  some  strong  appeals  and  a  good 
impression,  "delivering"  remarks  Blaine  "at  least  one 
extended  speech  each  day  at  some  central  point,  and 
speaking  frequently  by  the  way;  his  journey  fastened 
the  attention  of  the  country  and  amply  illustrated  his 
versatile  and  brilliant  intellectual  powers.  No  man  was 
more  seductive  in  speech,  or  more  impressive  in  se- 


240  Horatio  Seymour 

date  and  stately  eloquence.  With  his  art  of  persua- 
sion he  combined  rare  skill  in  evading  difficult  ques- 
tions while  preserving  an  appearance  of  candor.  His 
speeches  were  as  elusive  and  illusive  as  they  were 
smooth  and  graceful.  *  *  *  He  labored  to  convince 
the  country  that  if  the  Democrats  elected  the  President 
they  would  still  be  practically  powerless,  and  that  ap- 
prehension of  disturbance  and  upheaval  from  their  suc- 
cess was  unfounded.  He  sought  also  to  draw  the  pub- 
lic thought  away  from  this  subject  and  give  it  a  new 
direction  by  dwelling  on  the  cost  of  government,  the 
oppression  of  taxes,  the  losses  from  the  disordered 
currency  and  the  various  evils  that  had  followed  the 
various  trials  and  perils  through  which  the  country  had 
passed."  Despite  his  skillful  presentations  the  war- 
days  were  too  near,  the  soldier  vote  too  heavy,  and  the 
"reconstructed"  states  too  republican  at  the  moment. 
Of  the  eight  but  two,  Georgia  and  Louisiana  chose 
Seymour  electors.  These  were  assailed  as  due  to  fraud 
and  violence,  but  finally  counted.  Grant  had  a  popular 
majority  of  309,588  and  214  electors.  Seymour  had 
but  eighty.  He  carried  New  York  and  New  Jersey, 
nevertheless,  by  leads  of  60,000  and  10,000  respec- 
tively. Grant's  lead  in  Indiana  was  but  961.  California 
was  republican  by  vote  of  514.  Oregon  went  for  Sey- 
mour. The  Republican  vote  in  Ohio  was  cut  down 
heavily  and  the  Democrats  captured  Philadelphia  by 
about  200  votes.  Virginia,  Texas  and  Mississippi  not 
being  "reconstructed"  were  excluded  from  the  vot- 
ing. Had  Seymour  been  able  to  attain  the  vote  of  a 
"solid  South"  he  would  have  been  elected. 

Blaine   thought   Seymour   "unpleasantly  associated 


Horatio  Seymour  241 

with  the  draft"  in  the  public  mind.  It  did  not  affect 
him  in  New  York  or  in  New  Jersey.  The  real  cause  of 
his  defeat  was  the  situation  in  the  South.  Blaine  truly 
observes  that  the  result  "was  not  comforting  to  the 
thoughtful  men  who  interpreted  its  true  significance 
and  comprehended  the  possibilities  to  which  it 
pointed."  He  continues:  "The  Republican  victory  of 
1868  led  to  the  incorporation  of  impartial  suffrage  in 
the  Reconstruction  laws." 

The  more  accurate  Senator  William  M.  Stewart 
would  have  inserted  "scare"  in  explanation,  instead  of 
"victory."  He  was  the  father  of  the  Fifteenth  Amend- 
ment and  frankly  gave  as  his  reason  for  securing  the 
franchise  for  the  negro  as  insuring  the  party  his  vote. 
Claiming  to  represent  the  wealth  and  intelligence  of 
the  country  it  only  saved  its  power  by  enfranchising 
the  blacks — a  fitting  return  probably  for  their  cen- 
turies of  unrequited  toil,  but  hardly  a  class  represent- 
ing the  ideals  of  the  intelligent,  or  capable  of  being 
given  any  equality  whatever,  save  at  the  ballot  box, 
which  the  South  still  denies  them,  despite  the  Consti- 
tution. The  basis  for  the  "scare"  lay  deeper  even  than 
the  vote  for  Seymour.  The  number  of  Democrats  in 
the  38th  Congress  had  been  increased  from  forty-four 
to  seventy-five,  leaving  the  Republicans  with  but 
twenty  majority. 

For  the  rest  of  his  life  Mr.  Seymour  was  content 
to  play  the  part  of  a  sage.  He  died  at  Utica,  February 
12,  1886. 


XIII 
HORACE  GREELEY 


"old  white  hat" 


IN  passing  from  polemist  to  politician  Horace 
Greeley  took  a  sorry  step.  His  pen  had  made  the 
New  York  Tribune  the  most  powerful  paper  in 
the  land.  His  political  errors  well-nigh  wrecked  it  and 
killed  himself.  Matchless  as  an  editor  he  proved  the 
poorest  sort  of  a  hand  in  politics.  With  a  knowledge  of 
affairs  and  public  men  that  was  unequalled  he  was  po- 
tent with  his  pen,  but  when  he  came  personally  into 
the  game  he  failed.  Yet  he  thought  he  knew  politics. 
Opposed  to  the  extension  of  slavery  he  was  in  a  class 
by  himself.  Believer  in  protection  he  fell  in  readily 
with  the  Whigs  and  behind  Henry  Clay.  In  the  con- 
struction of  the  Republican  party  his  share  was  that  of 
a  compelling  voice.  The  practical  management  was 
in  other  hands.  He  formed  an  effective  alliance  in 
New  York  with  Thurlow  Weed,  owner  of  the  Albany 
Journal,  and  William  H.  Seward,  of  Auburn,  Gover- 
nor and  United  States  Senator.  Weed  was  a  shrewd 
manipulator  of  men,  a  lobbyist  who  took  rewards  for 
his  services  and  made  himself  generally  useful.  Seward 
took  the  lead  in  the  North  against  the  political  power 
of  slavery.  The  three  got  on  well  until  Greeley  per- 
ceived that  he  was  being  left  out  on  all  the  rewards 

242 


Horace  Greeley  243 

and  honors.  His  soul  sighed  for  recognition,  for  an 
invitation  to  office,  which  it  may  be  doubted  if  he  would 
have  accepted  or  long  held.  But  the  bitterness  of  dis- 
appointment in  being  overlooked  seized  him  and  he 
dissolved  the  partnership  in  an  extraordinary  letter 
written  to  Seward  November  n,  1854,  following  a 
state  election  that  had  landed  Henry  J.  Raymond,  ed- 
itor of  the  rival  New  York  Times,  in  the  Lieutenant 
Governor's  chair,  where  he  was  placed  by  the  choice 
of  the  other  partners.  Greeley  coveted  recognition.  If 
Raymond  had  been  defeated  he  would  probably  have 
kept  on  with  the  concern,  but  his  triumph  was  a  last 
straw  in  what  Greeley  regarded  as  a  series  of  humili- 
ations at  the  hands  of  his  associates.  It  would  appear 
that  neither  of  them  was  aware  of  his  inside  longings, 
justly  believing  that  his  prestige  as  editor  of  the  chief 
party  paper  was  glory  enough — which  it  was. 

The  connection  between  the  three  began  with  the 
Whig  expansion  that  followed  the  panic  of  1837.  Gree- 
ley was  struggling  with  his  weekly  New  Yorker,  and 
when  Weed  offered  him  a  chance  to  edit  a  Whig  sheet 
out  of  Albany  he  accepted  at  $1,000  for  a  year's  edit- 
ing. Victories  followed,  but  Greeley  got  nothing  be- 
yond his  petty  wage.  Others  of  the  faithful  were  well 
rewarded  with  office  and  opportunity.  In  1840  he  ed- 
ited the  Log  Cabin  for  Weed  and  Seward.  Here  again 
he  was  unrewarded  in  victory,  but  acquired  somehow 
the  means  to  start  the  Tribune  in  1841.  From  that 
time  on  he  needed  help  from  no  one,  and  could  readily 
have  repudiated  his  partners,  but  instead  served  them 
faithfully  and  without  return  until  the  fateful  date 
in  1854. 


244  Horace  Greeley 

His  career  had  been  typically  American,  hampered 
though  he  was  by  being  a  youthful  prodigy  and  with- 
out business  instincts.  Success  came  to  him  without  the 
usual  devices  to  allure  it.  Born  at  Amherst,  N.  H., 
February  3,  181 1,  son  of  a  very  poor  farmer,  Zaccheus 
Greeley,  he  underwent  the  usual  experiences  of  pov- 
erty on  a  hard  soil.  Horace  was  a  little  lad,  noted  for 
precocity  in  learning  and  interest  in  reading.  The  fam- 
ily shuffled  to  Vermont,  where  Zaccheus  "lumbered" 
and  earned  money  enough  to  get  on  after  a  fashion. 
Then  he  felt  a  call  to  Western  Pennsylvania  and 
moved  on,  leaving  Horace  behind  as  an  apprentice  in 
the  office  of  the  Northern  Spectator  at  East  Poultney, 
Vermont,  where  he  soon  became  useful  and  rather  a 
character  in  the  small  town.  He  was  the  best  debater 
in  the  local  debating  society  and  was  much  liked  lo- 
cally. The  paper  went  out  of  business  in  1830  and 
Horace  followed  the  family  to  the  new  habitat  in 
Wayne,  Pennsylvania.  Chopping  wood  as  a  business 
was  not  to  his  taste  and  he  took  to  the  road  as  a 
printer.  The  profession  was  then  peripatetic,  and  he 
landed  at  last  in  New  York,  August  17,  1831.  John  T. 
West,  printer  at  85  Chatham  Street,  gave  him  a  job, 
setting  up  a  Testament  in  Pearl,  the  smallest  type  in 
use  at  which  by  close  application  he  was  able  to  earn 
$1  per  day.  Better  openings  followed.  He  saved  some 
money  and  with  Francis  V.  Story,  on  a  capital  of  $200, 
started  a  print  shop  of  his  own.  This  was  soon  busy.  A 
weekly  paper  the  New  Yorker  was  the  next  venture. 
It  achieved  a  good  circulation  among  subscribers  who 
were  pretty  slow  pay,  but  kept  him  going.  The  cam- 
paign   sheets    noted   were    additions    to    his    income 


r 


Photograph  by  Gramstorff  Bros.,  Inc. 

HORACE     GREELEY 


,„■„ 


Horace  Greeley  245 

reputation.  The  New  York  Tribune  was  the  outcome. 

The  new  daily  gave  his  great  brain  the  employment 
it  deserved  and  the  changing  era  in  politics  together 
with  the  expansion  of  the  nation  west  opened  a  wide 
field  for  the  weekly  edition,  which  in  circulation  and 
influence  outfooted  all  rivals.  It  made  Greeley  known 
wherever  the  settlers  ranged.  Supporting  Henry  Clay, 
it  was  a  Whig  organ,  but  its  keys  were  manipulated 
solely  by  its  editor.  Thus  it  was  the  paper  played  a  re- 
markable part  in  political  affairs.  His  support  of  Fou- 
rierism  and  Communism  caused  much  criticism,  but 
failed  to  check  his  headway.  When  these  dropped  out 
of  sight  national  issues  gave  him  leverage  with  which 
he  lifted  much. 

When  the  notice  of  dissolution  was  served  on  Weed 
and  Seward  both  were  inclined  to  take  it  as  a  piece  of 
passing  petulance  and  tried  together  to  smooth  the 
ruffled  feathers.  In  this  they  were  not  successful. 
Thereafter  Greeley  went  his  own  way  leaving  the  pair 
to  operate  together.  "I  trust,"  he  said  in  the  dissolu- 
tion notice,  referring  to  Seward,  "I  shall  not  be  found 
in  opposition  to  you."  This  hope  was  not  fulfilled.  The 
two  men  never  met  but  once  thereafter,  and  that  in 
church  during  1859.  The  relationship  was  completely 
severed.  He  assumed  the  editorial  leadership  of  the  op- 
ponents of  the  extension  of  slavery  to  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  territory,  was  strong  for  the  Douglas  doc- 
trine of  Popular  Sovereignty  and  made  Free-Soil  a 
slogan,  North,  East  and  West,  wherein  the  circula- 
tion of  the  weekly  Tribune  rose  to  250,000  copies  per 
issue. 

Despite  his  complaint  to  Seward,  Greeley  had  been 


246  Horace  Greeley 

recognized  a  bit.  In  1848  he  was  elected  to  fill  a  va- 
cancy in  the  New  York  City  congressional  delegation 
caused  by  the  unseating  of  David  S.  Jackson.  The  term 
was  short  but  it  gave  ample  occasion  for  demonstrat- 
ing that  the  place  was  not  one  to  be  filled  by  an  ag- 
gressive editor.  Fellow  members  held  him  to  account 
for  all  that  appeared  to  their  disadvantage  in  the  Trib- 
une, and  considered  it  unfair  that  he  should  back  up 
his  own  efforts  on  the  floor  with  the  power  of  the  pa- 
per. He  made  a  crusade  against  the  abuse  of  congres- 
sional charges  for  mileage  that  caused  a  pretty  stir 
and  made  him  many  enemies.  Being  a  printer  he  con- 
sidered $7.50  a  column  for  printing  the  debates  in  the 
Union  and  National  Intelligencer,  excessive  and  forced 
a  cut.  Naturally  their  conductors  failed  to  appreciate 
the  attention.  He  tried  to  stop  flogging  in  the  navy 
and  failed;  to  cut  out  bonuses  to  congressional  em- 
ployes and  failed.  Final  unpopularity  was  achieved  by  a 
measure  to  limit  the  sale  of  public  lands  to  actual  set- 
tlers. This  also  failed,  but  became  the  germ  of  the 
Homestead  Act  in  time. 

The  ninety  day  sentence  served  he  came  back  to  his 
desk,  convinced  despite  rebuffs,  that  on  the  whole  Con- 
gress was  pretty  honest,  though  no  place  for  him.  He 
did  not  try  to  go  back. 

In  the  account  of  Seward's  career,  Greeley's  part  in 
his  defeat  for  the  Presidential  nomination  has  been  de- 
tailed. He  was  offish  toward  the  successful  Lincoln — 
if  anything  he  had  been  more  friendly  to  Douglas 
than  to  his  rival,  whom  he  had  met  during  his  term 
in  Congress  without  being  especially  impressed.  He 
believed  however  that  he  should  have  been  offered  the 


Horace  Greeley  247 

Postmaster-Generalship  which  went  to  Montgomery 
Blair,  and  was  disgruntled  accordingly.  During  all  the 
trying  war-time  he  was  a  thorn  in  Lincoln's  side  with 
carping  criticism  and  continuous  urgings  that  caused 
some  serious  mistakes.  While  the  Tribune's  cry  'Tor- 
ward  to  Richmond"  was  not  of  his  fathering,  it  led 
to  the  disaster  at  Bull  Run  for  which  he  received  full 
credit  and  an  attack  of  brain  fever. 

In  1 861,  Seward  having  become  Secretary  of  State, 
Greeley  was  a  candidate  for  the  position  of  U.  S. 
Senator  for  New  York.  William  M.  Evarts  vied  with 
him  in  the  race.  The  outlook  was  promising  until  his 
old  partner  Thurlow  Weed  took  charge  of  the  wires 
and  defeated  both,  giving  the  prize  to  Ira  Harris. 
When  the  term  of  Preston  King  expired  in  1863,  Gree- 
ley again  essayed  the  Senatorship.  Again  the  wiley 
Weed  intervened  and  secured  the  seat  for  E.  D.  Mor- 
gan. He  served  in  the  constitutional  convention  of 
1867  and  ran  for  Congress  in  1868  from  the  so-called 
Cherry  Hill  district  of  New  York  adjacent  to  the 
Tribune  office,  only  to  be  badly  beaten.  In  1869  the 
Republicans  ran  him  for  State  Comptroller.  William 
F.  Allen,  of  Oswego,  Democrat,  defeated  him.  It  was 
a  Democratic  year  in  New  York,  the  party  capturing 
all  state  offices.  In  1870  he  once  more  ran  for  Congress 
in  New  York  to  be  defeated  by  Samuel  S.  Cox  ("Sun- 
set")  a  newcomer  from  Ohio. 

He  supported  Lincoln  for  a  second  term  with  re- 
luctance, rather  in  response  to  a  hint  that  he  would 
now  get  the  Postmaster-Generalship.  Lincoln  was  killed 
by  John  Wilkes  Booth  before  he  made  any  effort  to 
make  good.   Greeley  considered  the  promise   of  no 


248  Horace  Greeley 

value.  His  anger  was  enhanced  by  the  proffer  of  the 
French  mission  to  James  Gordon  Bennett  who  had 
shifted  also  on  a  hint  that  something  might  come  his 
way.  He,  however,  declined  the  distinction. 

The  death  of  Lincoln  threw  the  party  into  confu- 
sion. The  term  filled  out  by  Andrew  Johnson  took  on 
the  aspect  of  that  of  William  Henry  Harrison  as  com- 
pleted by  John  Tyler.  Johnson  was  a  Democrat  and 
while  he  hated  and  wished  to  hang  the  Southern  lead- 
ers, had  nothing  in  harmony  with  the  hard-boiled 
specimens  who  now  assumed  party  control.  Zachariah 
Chandler,  Thaddeus  Stevens,  Benjamin  F.  Butler  and 
Benjamin  F.  Wade,  were  hardly  the  sort  to  get  on 
well  with  the  President  and  did  not.  The  attempt  at 
impeachment  and  all  the  incidental  turmoil  remain 
blots  upon  history. 

When  it  came  time  to  select  Johnson's  successor 
the  party  had  run  out  of  Presidential  timber,  with 
which  it  had  never  been  any  too  well  supplied.  Seward 
had  retired,  broken  under  the  blows  of  a  would-be- 
assassin.  Charles  Sumner,  a  commanding  figure,  did 
not  fit  the  crowd  in  control.  The  South  was  still  a  scare- 
crow and  the  leaders,  filled  with  fear  that  it  might 
again  leap  into  the  saddle,  gave  the  negro  suffrage. 
In  casting  about  for  a  man  who  could  win  and  save 
the  country  once  more,  the  powers  picked  on  Lieuten- 
ant General  U.  S.  Grant.  He  accepted  and  Greeley 
supported  him  in  the  canvass,  making  some  speeches, 
but  having  within  a  great  mistrust  and  perhaps  some 
disgust  at  having  been  over-looked  himself.  If  he  ever 
had  a  chance  it  was  thoroughly  killed  by  his  action 
in  signing  the  bail-bond  of  Jefferson  Davis,  in  May 


THK    CAI'S-PAW-ANY    THINO    TO    OET    CHESTNUT 


GREELEY  IN  THE  CLUTCH  OF  TAMMANY 

A  characteristic  cartoon  by   Nast,  which  appeared   in  Harper's  Weekly,  July  22,   1876. 
The  Tiger  bears  the   likeness  of  Tweed 


Horace  Greeley 249 

1867.  Nineteen  other  men  joined  him  in  so  doing,  but 
upon  Greeley  alone  fell  the  popular  wrath.  The  weekly 
Tribune  lost  200,000  of  its  250,000  readers. 

Grant's  administration,  despite  his  own  honesty  and 
sagacity  of  character  speedily  became  a  scandal.  Ros- 
coe  Conkling,  Senator  from  New  York  took  command 
of  the  ship  and  the  "boys"  helped  themselves  gener- 
ously. Charles  Sumner  was  chairman  of  the  Senate 
Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs  and  was  soon  in  col- 
lision out  of  which  Sumner  lost  his  chairmanship  and 
his  friend,  John  Lothrop  Motley  the  English  mission. 
Old  army  friends  dipped  their  fingers  deep  in  the  but- 
ter and  made  trouble.  The  influence  of  Benjamin  F. 
Butler  replaced  that  of  Sumner  and  Massachusetts. 

By  the  time  Grant's  renomination  was  due  the  party 
of  Lincoln  was  badly  split.  Editors  of  the  weight  of 
Greeley,  Samuel  Bowles,  of  the  Springfield  Republican, 
William  Cullen  Bryant,  of  the  New  York  Evening 
Post,  Joseph  Medill,  of  the  Chicago  Tribune,  and 
Murat  Halstead,  of  the  Cincinnati  Commercial  turned 
against  the  President.  In  Missouri,  independent  Re- 
publicans scored  a  great  victory,  electing  B.  Gratz 
Brown,  Governor.  The  large  German  element  led  by 
Carl  Schurz,  Dr.  Emil  Pretorious  and  their  young 
associate  Joseph  Pulitzer,  all  of  the  Westliche  Post, 
was  in  the  main  responsible.  The  effect  of  this  victory 
was  wide-spread.  An  independent  Republican  party 
in  the  nation  was  organized  and  met  in  convention  at 
Cincinnati,  on  May  1,  responding  to  a  call  sent  out 
from  Missouri  dated  January  24th.  Though  Greeley 
had  been  plainly  enough  Anti-Grant  in  the  Tribune 
the  Republicans,  like  Seward  and  Weed  before  them, 


250  Horace  Greeley 

did  not  take  his  hostility  seriously  and  none  deemed 
he  would  leave  the  party  and  follow  the  new  schism. 
From  his  acquaintance  with  Ohio,  Whitelaw  Reid,  the 
Tribune's  managing  editor,  was  sent  to  Cincinnati  to 
watch  and  operate  as  might  be  needed.  He  took  with 
him  the  intent  to  nominate  Greeley  and  thereby  make 
himself  head  of  the  Tribune. 

The  convention  was  called  to  order  by  Stanley  Mat- 
thews of  Ohio.  Carl  Schurz  was  made  permanent  chair- 
man and  Joseph  Pulitzer,  secretary.  Charles  Francis 
Adams  of  Massachusetts,  Lincoln's  minister  to  Eng- 
land, and  son  of  President  John  Quincy  Adams,  was 
the  leading  candidate.  Bowles  and  Bryant  were  Free- 
Traders  and  Greeley  was  a  protectionist.  To  pave 
the  way  for  him  Reid  kept  the  tariff  out  of  the  plat- 
form to  the  deep  annoyance  of  his  opponents.  The 
platform  as  built  scathingly  arraigned  the  administra- 
tion of  Grant. 

When  it  came  to  balloting  Adams  led  with  203 
votes,  Greeley  had  147,  Lyman  Trumbull  100,  B. 
Gratz  Brown  95,  David  Davis  92^,  and  Andrew 
G.  Curtin  62.  Trumbull  and  Curtin  were  Democrats, 
either  of  whom  would  have  been  highly  acceptable 
to  the  country.  Bowles  withdrew,  Greeley's  vote  rose 
to  239,  and  Curtin  dropping  out  gave  Adams  233, 
on  the  second  try.  Adams  led  on  the  third  count  279 
to  Greeley's  258.  On  the  fourth  Greeley  lost  7  and 
Adams  held  his  own.  On  the  fifth  the  258  held  to 
Greeley  while  the  Adams  total  reached  309.  The  situ- 
ation was  smashed  up  by  a  row  between  the  Trumbull 
and  Davis  Illinois  followings.  Greeley  received  332 
votes  on  the  sixth,  Adams  324.  In  the  next  turn  Gree- 


Horace  Greeley  251 

ley  was  nominated  by  a  vote  of  482  to  187  for  Adams. 
The  delegates  refused  to  make  the  choice  unanimous. 
B.  Gratz  Brown  was  named  for  Vice-President. 

Greeley  accepted  on  May  29th,  concluding:  "If 
elected  I  shall  be  the  President  not  of  a  party  but  of 
the  whole  people.  I  accept  your  nomination  in  the  con- 
fident trust  that  the  masses  of  our  people,  North  and 
South  are  eager  to  clasp  hands  across  the  bloody  chasm 
which  has  so  long  divided  them,  forgetting  that  they 
have  been  enemies  in  the  joyous  consciousness  that 
they  are,  and  henceforth  must  remain,  brethren." 

June  5th,  the  Republicans  re-nominated  Grant  at 
Philadelphia.  Vice-President  Schuyler  Colfax  had  de- 
veloped a  taint  of  Credit  Mobilier  and  was  dropped  for 
Henry  Wilson,  of  Massachusetts.  July  9th,  the  de- 
spairing Democrats  met  at  Baltimore.  John  T.  Hoff- 
man, Governor  of  New  York  presided.  The  conven- 
tion speedily  swallowed  Greeley,  platform  and  all  by  a 
vote  of  686  out  of  720  present.  Also  B.  Gratz  Brown. 
If  the  Democrats  endorsed  Greeley  the  men  who  had 
done  the  most  for  independent  Republicanism  did  not, 
Schurz,  Bryant,  Jacob  D.  Cox,  Oswald  Ottendorfer 
and  David  A.  Wells,  all  tariff  reformers,  met  in  New 
York  and  nominated  William  S.  Groesbuck,  of  Ohio 
and  Frederick  Law  Olmstead  of  New  York.  This  ticket 
was  never  heard  from  again,  but  the  bolt  told  hard 
against  Greeley,  who  now  entered  upon  what  was  the 
most  melancholy  political  campaign  in  American  his- 
tory. He  retired  from  the  editorship  of  the  Tribune 
in  which  he  now  had  but  a  tenth  interest,  and  turned  it 
over  to  Reid.  Grant  sat  serenely  in  the  White  House 
and  left  the  campaign  to  his  henchmen,  Greeley  kept 


252  Horace  Greeley 

open  house  at  his  home  in  Chappaqua,  New  York, 
travelled  far  and  spoke  often.  He  had  journeyed  South 
the  year  before  and  met  with  a  cordial  welcome.  His 
white  hat  became  a  gonfalon.  Warm  receptions  al- 
most everywhere  cheered  his  hopes.  But  things  were 
going  wrong.  Old  followers  were  unforgiving  because 
of  the  Democratic  endorsement.  The  Tweed  scandals 
in  New  York  offset  those  of  the  Credit  Mobilier  in 
Washington.  Nast  pinned  him  to  Tweed  in  Harper's 
Weekly  and  the  dart  penetrated  deeply.  Henry  Ward 
Beecher,  then  very  influential,  would  have  none  of 
him.  People  were  largely  of  the  opinion  that  he  lacked 
administrative  qualities  which  was  true  enough  in  the 
meticulous  sense;  though  he  had  been  a  great  money 
earner,  he  could  not  "make"  it  as  moderns  do. 

A  fortnight  before  election  Greeley  was  called  from 
the  field  by  the  illness  of  his  wife.  She  died  October 
30,  1872.  Election  fell  on  November  5th.  The  result 
was  a  terrible  defeat.  Of  the  total  vote,  3,597,132 
went  to  Grant,  2,834,125  to  Greeley,  whose  total  was 
but  130,000  more  than  that  of  Horatio  Seymour  on 
the  straight  Democratic  ticket  four  years  before. 
Georgia,  Maryland,  Missouri,  Tennessee,  Texas  and 
Louisiana  alone  chose  Greeley  electors.  When  the  elec- 
toral college  met  Greeley  was  dead.  His  votes  were 
divided,  forty-two  going  to  Thomas  A.  Hendricks  of 
Indiana,  eighteen  to  B.  Gratz  Brown,  two  for  Jenkins 
and  one  for  David  Davis.  Grant  had  two  hundred  and 
eighty-six. 

November  7th,  the  Tribune  published  a  card  from 
Mr.  Greeley  announcing  his  purpose  to  return  to  the 
editorship.  It  was  not  destined  to  come  true.  During 


Horace  Greeley  253 

his  campaigning  the  control  of  the  paper  had  changed 
hands.  William  Orton,  President  of  the  Western  Union 
Telegraph  Company  had  secured  the  stock  of  Samuel 
Sinclair,  Greeley's  publisher  and  chief  associate,  along 
with  other  options,  in  a  plan  to  make  Schuyler  Colfax 
editor.  Credit  Mobilier  spoiled  that,  but  some  inkling 
of  what  was  happening  reached  Greeley.  Worn,  dis- 
tracted and  ignored  in  the  office,  he  appeared  there  for 
a  few  days,  got  in  one  leader  analyzing  the  election 
and  came  down  on  November  14th  with  an  attack  of 
brain  fever  from  which  he  never  rallied.  Rumors  flew 
about  that  he  had  become  insane  and  was  to  be  confined 
in  Bloomingdale  Asylum.  Instead  he  had  been  taken 
to  the  private  sanitarium  of  Dr.  George  S.  Choate,  at 
Pleasantville,  near  his  Chappaqua  home.  Here  he  died 
November  29,  1872.  He  had  not  reached  his  sixty- 
second  birthday,  but  few  men  had  lived  more  within 
that  limit  of  years. 

They  gave  the  broken  body  a  great  funeral.  It  was 
held  in  the  Universalist  Church  of  the  Divine  Paternity 
which  he  attended  in  New  York.  The  pastor,  Dr.  Ed- 
win H.  Chapin,  conducted  the  service,  assisted  by 
Henry  Ward  Beecher  and  Dr.  Thomas  Armitage. 
Grant,  Colfax  and  Wilson  came  from  Washington  to 
attend.  Salmon  P.  Chase,  Chief  Justice  of  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court,  Lyman  Trumbull,  Thurlow 
Weed  and  William  M.  Evarts  were  among  the  pall- 
bearers. Burial  was  in  Greenwood  where  the  printers 
of  New  York  raised  a  monument  over  his  grave.  They 
also  erected  a  statue  at  what  is  now  Greeley  Square 
at  Thirty-third  Street,  Broadway  and  Sixth  Avenue  in 
New  York.  Another  stands  at  City  Hall  Park. 


254  Horace  Greeley 

With  all  his  failure  to  reach  the  summit,  and  his 
many  stumblings  on  the  steps,  Greeley  remains  an  out- 
standing factor  in  the  creation  of  the  nation  to-day. 
His  stand  against  the  extension  of  slavery  brought  the 
common  people  to  support  the  cause.  Yet  he  did  not 
wish  war  and  would  have  gone  far  toward  a  compro- 
mise with  the  South  and  would  have  permitted  its 
peaceable  departure  from  the  Union.  He  fostered 
protection  if  that  be  a  virtue,  though  it  has  climbed 
miles  higher  than  he  ever  dreamed  desirable.  Though 
he  often  told  men  to  "go  to  hell"  he  did  not  believe  in 
it  and  was  a  staunch  Universalist.  Partisan  in  purpose, 
he  found  it  hard  to  be  a  good  party  man.  Much  mental 
agony  fell  to  his  lot.  Few  men  suffered  more  and 
gained  less  in  life.  His  enormous  energies  went  to  the 
benefit  of  a  great  cause.  He  could  and  did  outwork 
any  three  of  his  associates.  With  pen  and  on  the  plat- 
form he  made  himself  heard  afar.  Nature  has  yet 
to  duplicate  him. 


Photograph    by    Underwood  and   Underwood 

SAMUEL    J.    TILDEN 


XIV 
SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN 


"counted  out" 


CONSIDERED  by  James  G.  Blaine,  "in  some 
respects  the  most  striking  figure  in  the  Demo- 
cratic party  since  Andrew  Jackson"  Samuel  J. 
Tilden  enjoys  the  unique  distinction  of  being  the  only 
man  elected  on  the  face  of  the  returns  who  failed  to 
become  President.  His  followers  believed  he  was  de- 
liberately counted  out.  Instead,  his  managers  and  his 
shrewd  self  were  beguiled  into  accepting  a  scheme  for 
settling  a  dispute  that  ended  in  their  discomfiture. 
Had  they  followed  the  rule  of  the  Constitution  and 
thrown  the  election  of  1876  into  Congress,  he  would 
have  been  seated  and  all  have  gone  well.  That  he  did 
not — well  let  the  story  unroll  itself. 

Samuel  Jones  Tilden  was  born  at  New  Lebanon, 
New  York,  February  9,  18 14.  His  family  was  well- 
to-do  from  the  manufacture  of  tinctures  and  extracts. 
Young  Tilden  took  to  the  law,  finishing  his  studies  in 
New  York  under  John  W.  Edmonds.  Here  he  met,  at 
a  boarding  house  at  8th  Street  and  Fifth  Avenue  kept 
by  his  aunt,  John  Bigelow,  who  became  his  Boswell. 
This  was  in  1837  or  thereabouts.  Young  as  he  was  Mr. 
Tilden  had  an  eye  for  politics  of  the  practical  sort. 
Coming  from  the  vicinity  of  Kinderhook,  N.  Y.,  he 

255 


256  Samuel  J.  Tilden 

followed  Martin  Van  Buren,  taking  readily  to  his 
sly  ways,  and  even  improving  upon  them.  "When  Mr. 
Tilden  talked  politics  with  you"  Bigelow  records  "it 
was  his  habit  in  those  days  to  get  as  near  to  the  ear 
of  his  interlocutor  as  possible,  and  to  lower  his  voice 
as  if  to  make  sure  he  was  edifying  no  one  but  the  per- 
son he  was  addressing."  This  habit  he  continued 
through  life  and  it  earned  for  him  the  sobriquet  of 
"Whispering  Sammy."  It  was  accentuated  in  after 
years  by  a  partial  paralysis  of  the  throat  that  made 
loud  speaking  impossible.  This  also  affected  the  muscles 
of  his  arms  and  gave  him  an  aspect  of  feebleness  that 
did  not,  however,  affect  his  mind.  In  1846  at  the  urging 
of  Silas  Wright  he  was  elected  to  the  state  legislature. 
He  attended  the  National  Convention  that  nominated 
Lewis  Cass  for  President  as  a  delegate.  There  were 
two  sets  present  representing  William  L.  Marcy  and 
Wright  and  Van  Buren.  The  latter  bolted  and  called 
a  state  convention,  Tilden  writing  the  appeal  which 
nominated  Van  Buren  for  President  on  a  Free-Soil 
platform,  with  Charles  Francis  Adams,  as  a  running 
mate.  As  previously  noted  it  pulled  enough  votes  to 
beat  Cass.  Through  Tilden's  initiative  and  a  word 
from  Charles  O'Connor,  Bigelow  acquired  an  interest 
in  the  New  York  Evening  Post  that  made  him  comfort- 
able. Though  favoring  Free-Soil  Tilden  refused  to 
follow  Fremont  and  remained  a  Democrat.  When 
secession  loomed  the  Post  was  pro-abolition  and  sup- 
ported Lincoln.  Tilden  foresaw  the  dreadful  conse- 
quences and  felt  them  keenly.  "I  would  not,"  he  told 
Bigelow  "have  the  responsibility  of  William  Cullen 
Bryant  and  John  Bigelow  for  all  the  wealth  in  the 


Samuel  J.  Tilden  257 

Sub-Treasury.  If  you  have  your  way  civil  war  will 
divide  the  country,  and  you  will  see  blood  running  like 
water  in  the  streets  of  this  city." 

It  was  a  true  prophecy  and  reflects  in  advance  some 
reasons  for  his  course  in  1877.  He  amplified  his  views 
in  an  open  letter  to  William  Kent:  "The  Union  and  its 
dangers,"  published  in  the  Evening  Post. 

Mr.  Tilden  stood  by  the  North  when  the  crash 
came.  He  was  in  the  confidence  of  several  members 
of  Lincoln's  cabinet  and  often  consulted.  Against  his 
wishes,  he  was  sent  as  a  delegate  to  the  Chicago 
Convention  that  nominated  McClellan  and  earnestly 
sought  to  head  off  the  policy  there  adopted.  He  op- 
posed a  declaration  in  favor  of  an  armistice  and  in- 
sisted that  an  adjustment  between  the  North  and  South 
on  any  other  basis  than  the  restoration  of  the  Union 
Was  out  of  the  question.  Failing  to  carry  his  views  he 
urged  McClellan  to  disregard  the  peace  at  any  price 
advocacy  in  his  acceptance.  Succeeding  Dean  Richmond 
as  Chairman  of  the  Democratic  State  Committee  he 
made  his  wishes  felt  in  the  party,  to  in  time  assume 
its  nation-wide  control. 

Following  the  defeat  of  Greeley  and  the  re-elec- 
tion of  Grant  the  administration  went  from  bad  to 
worse.  The  Credit  Mobilier  scandal  burst  into  full 
flower,  blackening  the  Republican  Congress.  Grant's 
Secretary  of  War  was  caught  grafting.  His  navy  de- 
partment was  rotten  with  corruption  and  a  whisky  ring 
grew  rich  securing  immunity  by  bribes,  one  of  which 
went  to  the  President's  confidential  secretary.  No  more 
unsavory  political  mess  was  ever  brewed.  Justice  was 
blind  to  the  favored  scamps.  There  was  one  Demo- 


258  Samuel  J.  Tilden 

cratic  blot — that  of  the  Tweed  ring  in  New  York. 
"What  are  you  going  to  do  about  it?"  was  Tweed's 
arrogant  inquiry.  Then  came  forth  Samuel  Jones  Til- 
den, and  showed  him  the  way  into  prison. 

Tilden,  with  Charles  O'Conor,  only  for  a  rival,  was 
considered  the  ablest  attorney  in  New  York.  His  forte 
was  not  in  court  causes  but  in  taking  the  tangles  out  of 
large  affairs.  There  were  plenty  of  them  to  deal  with. 
The  over-building  of  railroads  and  blue-sky  financing 
had  brought  on  a  terrible  panic  in  1873,  to  salvage  the 
results  of  which  Mr.  Tilden  gave  profitable  attention. 
He  became  rich.  Small,  silent  and  canny,  he  built  up 
a  degree  of  confidence  in  his  clients  that  made  him 
powerful.  When  he  sought  to  give  the  public  some  ben- 
efit from  his  skill  it  was  greatly  appreciated.  In  1874 
the  Democrats  nominated  him  for  Governor  and  in 
a  campaign  that  gave  Congress  to  the  party  for  the 
first  time  since  1 856  he  was  elected,  defeating  John  A. 
Dix. 

The  astute  governor  soon  got  busy.  He  found  a 
close  Republican  ring  enriching  itself  at  the  expense 
of  the  Canal  system,  then  one  of  good  profit  to  the 
state,  under  the  guidance  of  James  J.  Belden,  of  Syra- 
cuse. To  this  the  Governor  directed  his  attention  and 
did  some  thorough  housecleaning.  He  cut  the  tax  rate 
in  half,  routed  the  rings  and  in  two  short  years  had 
the  slovenly  state  in  order,  its  business  honestly  admin- 
istered and  its  rule  respected. 

A  connoisseur  and  collector  of  fine  wines,  he  wrote 
Bigelow  from  Albany  in  January,  1875  :  "As  to  night 
drinking,  I  adopted  the  notion  last  year  that  to  have  a 
good  sleep  I  must  go  to  bed  unexcited.  No  matter  how; 


1 

FOR   TITF.   SOFT    B  l(!    BABY 
tlic  wrani]  U.tllu  dirt  it." 

*>,  duiiag.    Sec:  thu  Angela  art 



TILDEN   AS   A   DISPENSER   OF    "PAP" 
Nast  cartoon   which   appeared   in   Harper's   Weekly,   August   2G,    1876 


Samuel  J.  Tilden 259 

weary,  I  never  drink  at  night  or  in  the  evening,  unless 
at  a  dinner  or  other  party,  even  a  glass  of  wine.  This 
notion  grew  out  of  several  experiments;  when  I  found 
myself  wakeful  to  help  myself  with  a  nightcap,  which 
had  years  ago  worked  well,  but  on  these  late  occasions 
worked  badly.  It  may  be  that  the  brain  has  so  suffered 
that  it  will  not  allow  any  stimulant  as  a  preventive  of 
sleep;  but  I  do  have  excellent  sleep  without  it." 

About  this  time  his  enemies  were  circulating  reports 
that  he  had  become  a  sot!  In  fact  he  drank  but  little, 
precious  drops  of  the  choicest  vintages,  taken  spar- 
ingly. He  liked  Johannesburg  from  Metternich's  fa- 
mous Schloss.  Once  General  James  William  Husted,  of 
Peekskill,  a  famous  Westchester  Republican,  called 
on  some  business  at  Mr.  Tilden's  New  York  residence. 
He  set  out  a  bottle  of  his  best.  Taking  a  small  glass- 
ful, he  sniffed  it  frequently  and  touched  his  lips  oc- 
casionally to  the  liquid.  Husted  gulped  his  glassful 
and  reached  for  more. 

"The  next  time  that  man  comes  here,"  said  Tilden 
to  the  butler  after  Husted's  departure,  ugive  him 
beer." 

Governor  Tilden  had  been  steadily  steering  his  steps 
toward  the  Presidency.  Blaine,  who  seems  to  have 
greatly  admired  his  skill  as  a  politician,  says  of  this: 
"Though  more  than  three-score,  he  had  been  a  con- 
spicuous party  chief  only  three  or  four  years.  He  had 
moved  forward  to  unchallenged  personal  supremacy, 
with  a  vigor  and  rapidity  which  in  the  political  life  of 
the  United  States  has  seldom  been  equalled.  His  sud- 
den rise  was  not  the  result  of  accidental  circumstances 
of  which  he  was  the  fortunate  beneficiary.  The  sceptre 


260  Samuel  J.  Tilden 

of  power  in  the  Democratic  party  did  not  drop  into 
his  hands;  he  seized  it  and  wielded  it  at  his  own  will. 
He  moulded  the  conditions  which  suited  his  designs, 
and  when  the  hour  was  right  he  assumed  command  as 
of  divine  right." 

This  was  rather  piling  it  on.  With  all  his  shrewdness, 
Mr.  Tilden  was  not  responsible  for  the  election  of 
the  Democratic  Congress.  The  people  were  resenting 
the  panic  of  1873.  Some  of  the  good  results  had  al- 
ready been  spoiled  by  the  election  of  Samuel  J.  Ran- 
dall, Speaker,  after  the  death  of  Michael  C.  Kerr.  He 
was  a  Pennsylvania  protectionist  who  saw  that  no 
harm  came  to  the  tariff. 

Tilden's  war  record  was  unassailable  and  as  to  slav- 
ery he  had  favored  the  Wilmot  proviso  and  followed 
Van  Buren  on  his  free-soil  venture.  That  he  returned 
to  Democracy  seems  to  strike  Blaine  as  a  reproach. 
In  reality  Mr.  Tilden  was  more  of  a  patriot  than  poli- 
tician. He  knew  that  to  have  a  responsible  party  gov- 
ernment there  must  be  responsible  parties.  It  was  his 
wish  to  restore  the  Democracy  to  that  high  position 
and  he  did.  No  man  was  better  fitted  by  intellect  for 
the  task.  He  was  all  that,  purposeful  rather  than  a 
manipulator.  uHis  earlier  political  papers"  Blaine  ad- 
mits, "are  dignified  and  elevated  in  tone  beyond  his 
years  and  show  a  strong  intellect  and  careful  reflec- 
tion." Blaine  does  not  rank  him  with  Jefferson,  Madi- 
son, Jackson  and  Van  Buren,  but  credits  him  with 
"political  capacity  of  a  very  high  order."  He  cannot 
concede  him  patriotism  or  any  other  than  political  pur- 
poses in  fulfillment  of  personal  ambition  which  was  his 
own  ruling  passion.  But  he  finds  Tilden,  "Adroit,  in- 


Samuel  J.  Tilden  261 

genuous,  and  wary,  skillful  to  plan  and  strong  to  exe- 
cute, cautious  in  judgment  and  vigorous  in  action,  tac- 
iturn and  mysterious  as  a  rule  and  yet  singularly  open 
and  frank  on  occasions,  resting  on  old  traditions  yet 
leading  in  new  pathways,  surprising  in  the  force  of 
his  blows  yet  leaving  a  sense  of  reserve  power,  Mr. 
Tilden  unquestionably  ranks  among  the  greatest  mas- 
ters of  political  management  our  day  has  seen." 

Let  us  follow  further  and  see  how  this  "manage- 
ment" turned  out.  The  Democratic  convention  was 
held  at  St.  Louis,  on  June  28,  1876.  The  Republican 
ticket  of  Hayes  and  Wheeler  was  already  in  the  field. 
There  was  no  lack  of  prominent  Democrats  in  the  at- 
tendance. Gen.  John  A.  McClernand,  Sherman's  right 
hand  man  in  the  March  to  the  Sea  presided.  Others 
were  Samuel  J.  Randall,  Henry  Watterson,  Leon  Ab- 
bett,  of  New  Jersey,  Daniel  W.  Voorhees,  of  Indi- 
ana, and  William  F.  Vilas,  of  Wisconsin.  John  Kelly, 
who  had  taken  over  Tammany  Hall,  after  Tweed, 
was  there.  He  was  an  honest  man  but  had  no  love  for 
Tilden,  whose  interest  was  looked  out  for  by  his  Lieu- 
tenant Governor,  William  Dorsheimer  and  Francis 
'Kerman,  of  Utica.  Colonel  Watterson  called  the  con- 
vention to  order  and  Manton  Marble,  editor  of  the 
New  York  World  had  written  the  platform.  It  was  so 
polished  that  even  Mr.  Tilden  slipped  off  its  shining 
surface  when  he  wrote  his  acceptance.  It  accused  the 
tariff  of  robbery,  deprecated  fixing  a  date  for  the  re- 
sumption of  specie  payments,  which  had  been  done  by 
the  Republicans  for  January  1,  1879.  Tariff  for  rev- 
enue only  was  the  main  slogan.  The  names  of  Thomas 
A.  Hendricks,  of  Indiana,  John  Parker,  of  New  Jer- 


262  Samuel  J.  Tilden 

sey,  Thomas  F.  Bayard,  of  Delaware,  William  Allen, 
of  Ohio,  Winfield  Scott  Hancock  of  the  regular  army 
and  Samuel  J.  Tilden  were  put  in  nomination,  the 
last  by  Francis  Kernan.  So  certain  were  his  arrange- 
ments that  he  received  404^  votes  on  the  first  ballot, 
Hendricks  1403^,  Hancock  75,  Allen  34,  Bayard  33, 
with  37  scattering.  His  vote  was  so  near  to  the  need- 
ful two-thirds,  that  before  the  second  roll  call  ceased, 
his  nomination  was  made  unanimous.  Thomas  A. 
Hendricks  was  given  the  tail  of  the  ticket.  He  repre- 
sented the  one  state  beside  New  York,  if  the  South 
were  solid,  needed  to  elect. 

Financial  discussion  filled  most  of  Mr.  Tilden's 
over-long  letter  of  acceptance,  and  he  was  vague  on 
civil  service  which  Mr.  Hayes,  his  opponent,  special- 
ized. The  boys  had  been  out  a  good  while  and  it  was 
better  to  let  them  get  in  before  plugging  up  the  holes. 
Neither  candidate  took  the  stump.  Hayes  kept  on  be- 
ing Governor  of  Ohio  and  Mr.  Tilden  operated  from 
his  office.  Senator  Zachariah  Chandler  of  Michigan,  a 
rich  lumberman,  ran  the  Republican  campaign  as  Na- 
tional Chairman.  A  good  deal  was  said  about  "Uncle 
Sammy's  Bar'l,"  but  it  was  small  beside  that  of  Chand- 
ler, which  was  a  self-filler  from  the  tariff  trough.  His 
risk  lay  in  the  South  where  in  numbers  of  states  the 
black  vote  outnumbered  the  white  and  was  more  solid 
than  that  of  the  reconstructed  rebels.  October  elections 
were  not  decisive,  though  Indiana  went  Democratic. 

Despite  Tilden's  record  for  loyalty  to  the  Union  and 
his  free-soil  attitude,  the  last  month  of  the  campaign 
was  given  to  a  waving  of  the  bloody  shirt.  Blaine,  who 
had  never  smelled  powder  attuned  the  attack  on  the 


Samuel  J.  Tilden 263 

ex-brigadiers.  "The  South  again  in  the  Saddle"  was 
the  frightened  cry.  Robert  G.  Ingersoll  who  had  been 
captured  by  Forrest  without  a  scratch  on  his  handsome 
person  was  a  frantic  waver  of  the  ensanguined  gar- 
ment. President  Grant  sent  orders  to  the  bayonet  pick- 
eted South  to  see  that  peace  prevailed  at  the  polls. 
It  did. 

"Tilden  Triumphs"  was  the  World's  headline  on 
November  8th.  That  was  the  popular  opinion,  but 
John  C.  Reid,  managing  editor  of  the  New  York 
Times,  thought  otherwise :  that  Florida  and  Louisiana 
were  in  doubt  and  urged  Chandler  to  claim  the  elec- 
tion by  185  electoral  votes  to  184.  This  he  did  and  the 
ever  handy  Associated  Press  sent  out  this  later-morn- 
ing bulletin:  "Rutherford  B.  Hayes  has  received  185 
electoral  votes  and  is  elected."  Here  Tilden  fell  down. 
Abram  S.  Hewitt,  of  New  York  was  chairman  of  the 
National  Committee.  He  was  an  able,  irritable  man 
who  spent  much  time  quarreling  with  himself.  Tilden 
had  really  run  the  campaign.  His  following  wanted 
word  from  him.  It  did  not  come.  Instead  he  wrote  a 
long,  learned  pamphlet,  discussing  the  technique  of  the 
dispute  while  carpet  bag  returning  boards  sent  in  re- 
turns from  Florida,  South  Carolina,  and  Louisiana  in 
favor  of  Hayes,  when  on  the  face  of  the  returns  they 
had  voted  for  Tilden.  Rightfully  the  case  should  have 
gone  to  the  House  for  settlement,  but  hair-splitting  be- 
gan in  which  Mr.  Tilden  joined.  The  state  of  party 
feeling  was  so  high  that  both  Grant  and  Tilden  feared 
an  outbreak.  The  former  filled  the  capital  with  troops 
lest  100,000  Democrats  summoned  by  Col.  Henry 
Watterson  might  come  and  take  it,  while  Mr.  Tilden 


264  Samuel  J.  Tilden 

dreading  strife  now,  as  he  had  done  when  he  reproved 
Bryant  and  Bigelow,  submitted  to  an  electoral  com- 
mission selected  by  Congress  as  a  way  out  of  violence. 
The  Democrats  were  in  control  on  a  joint  ballot  and 
Tilden's  majority  on  the  popular  vote  was  250,935. 
In  addition  one  Hayes  elector  from  Oregon  was  in- 
eligible from  holding  a  post  office. 

The  commission  was  composed  of  three  Democrats 
and  two  Republicans  from  the  House,  selected  by 
party  caucuses,  and  three  Republicans  and  two  Demo- 
crats from  the  Senate,  to  which  were  added  four  Su- 
preme Court  justices  who  were  to  select  a  fifth,  mak- 
ing a  body  of  15.  Nathan  Clifford,  Samuel  F.  Miller, 
Stephen  J.  Field  and  William  Strong  were  the  judges 
chosen.  These  selected  Joseph  P.  Bradley  as  the  fif- 
teenth man.  The  senatorial  members  were  George  F. 
Edmunds  of  Vermont,  Oliver  P.  Morton,  of  Indiana 
and  F.  T.  Frelinghuysen  of  New  Jersey,  Republicans, 
and  Thomas  F.  Bayard  of  Delaware  and  Allen  G. 
Thurman  of  Ohio,  Democrats.  The  House  members 
were  Henry  B.  Payne,  of  Ohio,  Eppa  Hunton,  of 
Pennsylvania,  Josiah  G.  Abbott,  of  Massachusetts, 
Democrats,  James  A.  Garfield  of  Ohio  and  George  F. 
Hoar  of  Massachusetts,  Republicans.  Tilden's  counsel 
were  Jeremiah  S.  Black,  Charles  O'Conor,  John  A. 
Campbell,  Montgomery  Blair,  Lyman  Trumbull,  M. 
H.  Carpenter,  Ashbel  Green,  George  Hoadley,  R.  T. 
Merrick,  William  C.  Whitney,  and  A.  P.  Morse. 
Hayes  was  represented  by  William  M.  Evarts,  Stan- 
ley Matthews,  G.  W.  Stoughton  and  Samuel  Shella- 
berger.  The  Democrats  had  the  most  talent,  but  the 
Republicans  the  most  votes.  Bradley  voted  invariably 


TILDEN   MAKES   TAMMANY   FACE    BOTH   WAYS 

Another  campaign  cartoon  from  the  versatile  pen  of  Nast,  in  the  pages  of 
Harper's   Weekly,  July  22,   1876 


Samuel  J.  Tilden  265 

in  with  the  Republicans,  "Eight  to  Seven"  became  a 
by-word  for  injustice.  Each'time  Bradley  was  recorded 
a  howl  of  disgust  went  up  from  the  Democratic  press 
and  populace.  He  was  unswerved  to  the  end.  His  vote 
counted  all  the  disputed  states  for  Hayes.  The  Sen- 
ate confirmed  the  result,  the  House  dissented,  but  the 
law  had  clearly  provided  that  the  Commission's  de- 
cision could  not  be  set  aside  unless  both  united  and  so 
voted — which  they  did  not  do. 

Mr.  Tilden's  view  of  the  outcome  was  well-ex- 
pressed in  his  letter  of  June  16,  1880,  declining  the 
renomination  which  would  have  been  his  had  he  cared 
to  accept.  He  said  referring  to  1876: 

In  the  canvass  which  ensued  the  Democratic  party  repre- 
sented reform  in  the  Administration  of  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment and  a  restoration  of  our  complex  political  system  to  the 
pure  ideals  of  its  founders.  Upon  these  issues  the  people  of  the 
United  States,  by  a  majority  of  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  mil- 
lion, chose  a  majority  of  the  electors  to  cast  their  votes  for  the 
Democratic  candidate  for  President  and  Vice-President.  It  is 
my  right  and  privilege  here  to  say  that  I  was  nominated  and 
elected  to  the  Presidency  absolutely  free  from  any  engagement 
in  respect  to  the  exercise  of  its  powers  or  the  disposal  of  its 
patronage.  Through  the  whole  period  of  my  relation  to  the 
Presidency  I  did  everything  in  my  power  to  elevate  and  noth- 
ing to  lower  moral  standards  in  the  competition  of  parties.  By 
what  nefarious  means  the  basis  of  a  false  count  was  laid  in  the 
several  states  I  need  not  relate.  These  are  now  matters  of 
history,  about  which  whatever  diversity  of  opinion  may  have 
existed  in  either  of  the  great  parties  of  the  country  at  the  time 
of  their  consummation  has  since  practically  disappeared.  I  re- 
fused to  ransom  from  the  returning  boards  of  Southern  States 
the  documentary  evidence  by  the  suppression  of  which  and  by 


266  Samuel  J.  Tilden 

the  substitution  of  fraudulent  and  forged  papers,  a  pretext  was 
made  for  the  perpetration  of  a  false  count.  The  constitutional 
duty  of  the  two  houses  to  count  the  electoral  vote  as  cast,  and 
give  effect  to  the  will  of  the  people  as  expressed  by  their  suf- 
frages was  never  fulfilled.  An  Electoral  Commission  for  the 
existence  of  which  I  have  no  responsibility  was  formed,  and  to 
it  the  two  houses  of  Congress  abdicated  their  duty  to  make  the 
count,  by  a  law  enacting  that  the  count  of  the  commission 
should  stand  as  lawful  unless  overruled  by  the  concurrent 
action  of  the  two  houses.  Its  false  count  was  not  overruled, 
owing  to  the  complicity  of  the  Senate  with  the  Republican 
majority  of  the  Commission. 

Hayes  became  President  on  the  Chandler  figures 
185  to  184.  He  was  denounced  as  a  fraud  throughout 
all  his  admirable  administration.  The  New  York  Sun 
printed  his  picture  with  the  word  stamped  on  his  brow. 
For  all  the  clamor  the  result  probably  turned  out  bet- 
ter for  the  country  at  large  than  if  Mr.  Tilden  had 
forced  his  way  in. 

Mr.  Tilden  did  not  get  the  credit  he  should  have  re- 
ceived for  his  pacific  policy.  The  public  did  not  wel- 
come Hayes,  the  politicians  abjured  Tilden  for  not 
making  a  fight.  In  1878  he  suffered  by  the  publication 
of  a  series  of  cipher  dispatches  involving  his  nephew 
W.  T.  Pelton  and  Mr.  Tilden's  agents  who  were 
watching  the  count  in  the  South.  B.  F.  Butler  had  got 
hold  of  them,  and  while  running  for  Governor  of 
Massachusetts  gave  them  to  the  New  York  Tribune. 
The  dispatches  showed  that  the  returning  boards  of 
the  three  states  were  for  sale.  Mr.  Tilden  did  not  buy 
them.  Who  did?  The  revelations  spoiled  a  congres- 
sional inquiry  into  Republican  election  practices  in  the 


Samuel  J.  Tilden  267 

South  and  greatly  vexed  Mr.  Tilden,  who  insisted  that 
he  knew  nothing  of  all  that  was  going  on.  As  there 
were  about  30,000  dispatches  from  many  men  and 
many  points  someone  had  certainly  been  zealous. 
Blaine  holds  that  Smith  M.  Weed  and  Pelton  had 
planned  to  bribe  but  were  too  slow. 

For  the  rest  of  his  life  Mr.  Tilden  kept  in  retire- 
ment. In  1884  there  was  another  strident  call  for  his 
nomination.  He  again  wrote  declining  the  honor  and 
the  choice  fell  on  Grover  Cleveland. 

Three  younger  men,  Conrad  N.  Jordan,  Charles  S. 
Fairchild  and  Edward  L.  Parris  were  in  his  confidence 
and  all  were  worthy  of  it.  The  two  first  saw  service  in 
the  Treasury  under  President  Cleveland  and  Mr. 
Parris  was  an  able  assistant  district  attorney  in  New 
York  and  also  a  tax  commissioner  of  the  city.  One  day 
shortly  after  Mr.  Tilden  had  bought  his  great  man- 
sion on  the  bank  of  the  Hudson,  near  Yonkers,  Mr. 
Jordan  found  him  supervising  the  serving  of  a  canvas- 
back  duck  in  E.  B.  Orcutt's  restaurant  on  Broadway 
near  Fulton  Street. 

"Mr.  Tilden,"  he  said,  "I  have  an  offer  for  Gray- 
stone  that  will  give  you  a  profit  of  $100,000." 

"How  annoying,"  whispered  the  sage.  "I've  just  set 
out  fifty  peach  trees." 

There  was  no  sale.  In  addition  to  Graystone  he  built 
himself  a  fine  mansion  on  Gramercy  Park  South.  It  is 
now  the  home  of  the  National  Arts  Club.  The  struc- 
ture was  of  red-sandstone  and  the  pillars  supporting 
the  stairway  to  the  street  had  the  queer  conceit  of 
climbing  mice  carved  upon  them. 

Tilden  died  at  Graystone,  August  21,  1886.  He  had 


268  Samuel  J.  Tilden 

never  married.  To  his  munificence  New  York  owes  its 
magnificent  public  library. 

Bigelow  has  summed  up  Mr.  Tilden's  political 
course  and  share  in  affairs  succinctly  as  follows : 

"He  was  champion  of  the  Union  and  of  President 
Jackson  against  the  Nullifiers  and  Mr.  Calhoun.  He 
denounced  the  American  system  of  Mr.  Clay  as  un- 
constitutional, inequitable,  and  sectional.  He  vindi- 
cated the  removal  of  the  government  deposits  from 
the  United  States  Bank,  by  President  Jackson,  and  ex- 
ploded the  sophisticated  doctrine  of  its  lawyers  that 
the  Treasury  is  not  an  executive  department.  He  vindi- 
cated President  Van  Buren  from  the  charge  made  by 
William  Leggett  of  unbecoming  subserviency  to  the 
slave  holding  states  in  his  inaugural  address.  He  was 
among  the  first  to  insist  upon  free  banking  under  gen- 
eral laws,  thus  opening  the  business  equally  to  all,  and 
abolishing  the  monopoly  which  was  a  nearly  universal 
superstition.  He  exposed  the  perils  of  banking  upon 
public  funds.  He  advocated  the  divorce  of  bank  and 
state,  and  the  establishment  of  a  sub-treasury.  He  as- 
serted the  supervisory  control  of  the  legislature  over 
corporations  of  its  own  creation.  He  exposed  the 
enormity  of  Webster's  scheme  to  pledge  the  public 
lands  for  the  payment  of  the  debts  of  the  states.  He 
drew  and  vindicated  in  a  profoundly  learned  and  able 
report  the  act  which  put  an  end  to  the  discontents  of 
the  New  York  Anti-Renters.  He  wrote  the  protest  of 
the  Democracy  of  New  York  against  making  the  na- 
tionalizing of  slavery  a  test  of  party  fealty.  He  was 
the  first,  we  believe,  to  assign  statesmanlike  reasons 
for    opposing    coercive    temperance    legislation.    He 


Samuel  J.  Tilden  269 

pointed  out,  as  no  one  had  done  before  the  dangers 
of  sectionalizing  the  government.  *  *  *  He  led  the 
storming  party  which  drove  Tweed  and  his  predatory 
associates  to  prison  or  into  exile.  He  purified  the 
judiciary  of  the  city  and  state  of  New  York  by  procur- 
ing the  adoption  of  measures  which  resulted  in  the  re- 
moval of  one  judge  by  impeachment  and  of  two  judges 
by  resignation.  He  induced  the  Democratic  Conven- 
tion in  1874  to  declare,  in  no  uncertain  tone,  for  a 
sound  currency.  *  *  *  It  was  at  his  instance  that  the 
Democratic  party  of  New  York  *  *  *  pronounced 
against  Third  Term  Presidents." 

Surely  a  record  upon  which  any  statesman  might  be 
proud  to  have  lived! 


XV 
GENERAL  WINFIELD  S.  HANCOCK 


"the  superb" 


THOUGH  his  record  as  a  soldier  shines  in  the 
military  annals  of  the  country,  General  Win- 
field  Scott  Hancock,  "The  Superb/'  is  re- 
called politically  by  a  single  phrase:  "The  tariff  is  a  lo- 
cal issue."  Much  laughed  at  in  1880,  when  he  ran  as 
the  Democratic  candidate  for  President  against  James 
A.  Garfield,  for  this  utterance,  its  truth  has  since  been 
vindicated  over  and  over  again.  Believing  they  had 
won  in  1876,  the  Democrats  endeavored  to  put  their 
best  foot  forward  in  the  next  campaign.  The  Repub- 
licans dared  not  re-nominate  President  Hayes  who, 
besides  the  taint  in  his  title  had  given  great  offense  to 
the  spoilsmen  in  his  own  party  who  had  grown  affluent 
in  the  golden  days  of  graft  under  Grant.  The  "sol- 
dier" element  was  very  prominent  and  needed  cater- 
ing to.  The  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  had  come  into 
being  and  was  more  than  powerful.  Grant's  followers 
were  eager  to  have  him  in  again  and  mustered  an  "Old 
Guard"  with  306  votes  at  the  Republican  convention 
at  Chicago  on  June  2,  1880,  under  the  lead  of  Roscoe 
Conkling.  They  were  unable  to  control  and  the  nomi- 
nation went  to  Garfield,  an  Ohio  man,  member  of  Con- 
gress,  with  a  creditable  war  record.   He  had  been 

270 


General  Winfield  S.  Hancock    271 

tarnished  in  the  Credit-Mobilier  scandal,  but  was  a 
devout  churchman  which  balanced  the  account. 

Despite  a  theory  that  all  Democrats  were  Skeddad- 
lers  and  Copperheads,  a  good  many  served  in  the 
army  and  some  of  the  better  generals  were  of  the 
faith.  Indeed  Grant  himself  had  voted  for  Buchanan 
— the  only  ballot  he  ever  cast  for  President.  Southern 
brigadiers  had  come  back  to  Congress  in  droves  and 
made  a  good  deal  of  noise,  which  militated  against  the 
party.  The  Ku  Klux  Klan  in  the  South  had  served  to 
continue  the  belief  that  the  country  still  needed  to  be 
saved  at  Republican  hands.  It  became  necessary  to  find 
a  Northern  Democrat  who  had  borne  a  distinguished 
part  in  the  war.  The  convention  meeting  at  Cincinnati 
on  June  22,  1880,  found  him  in  Winfield  Scott  Han- 
cock. 

Hailing  from  Pennsylvania,  where  he  was  born  on 
a  farm  in  Montgomery  County,  February  14,  1824, 
the  General  was  at  the  moment  stationed  at  Gover- 
nor's Island,  New  York,  in  command  of  the  Military 
Department  of  the  East.  Twenty  names  were  before 
the  convention  including  Thomas  F.  Bayard,  of  Dela- 
ware, Stephen  J.  Field,  of  California,  Thomas  A. 
Hendricks,  of  Indiana,  William  R.  Morrison,  of  Illi- 
nois, J.  E.  McDonald,  of  Indiana,  and  Samuel  J.  Ran- 
dall, of  Pennsylvania.  It  was  truly  an  open  contest. 
The  first  ballot  was  taken  on  June  23rd.  During  the 
night  sentiment  centered  on  the  General,  and  when  bal- 
loting was  resumed  on  the  24th,  he  won  on  the  second 
call,  with  a  total  of  369  votes. 

His  story  was  typically  American.  Benjamin  F. 
Hancock  and  Elizabeth  Hexworth,  were  farm  folks, 


272     General  Winfield  S.  Hancock 

until  Winfield  and  his  twin  brother  Hilary  were  four 
years  old,  when  the  family  removed  to  Norristown, 
where  the  father  took  up  school  teaching  while  he 
studied  law  and  the  mother  worked  as  a  milliner.  Ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  at  Norristown,  the  elder  Hancock 
opened  an  office  adjoining  his  wife's  millinery  shop. 
Thus  the  couple  worked  their  way  along.  Hilary  fol- 
lowed his  father's  profession  and  John  the  third  son 
became  a  Colonel  of  Volunteers  during  the  rebellion. 
Winfield  grew  up  into  a  tall,  thin  lad,  who  went  to 
school  in  Norristown  and  "learned"  his  lessons  as  the 
saying  goes.  When  sixteen,  Congressman  Joseph 
Formance  gave  him  a  cadetship  at  West  Point,  where 
he  fell  into  what  was  to  prove  good  company.  Here 
were  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  George  B.  McClellan,  William 
B.  Franklin,  Ambrose  E.  Burnside,  John  F.  Reynolds, 
J.  L.  Reno,  E.  O.  C.  Ord,  Thomas  Jonathan  Jackson 
("Stonewall")  James  Longstreet,  A.  J.  Pleasanton, 
W.  F.  ("Baldy")  Smith,  A.  P.  and  D.  H.  Hill,  not  to 
mention  many  others  who  were  to  be  heard  from.  He 
graduated  June  30,  1844,  eighteenth  in  his  class  and 
was  assigned,  as  a  second  lieutenant  to  the  Sixth  In- 
fantry. The  regiment  was  located  in  the  Indian  Terri- 
tory. He  was  first  stationed  at  Fort  Towson  on  the 
Red  River,  then  transferred  to  Fort  Washita.  In- 
dians were  troublesome  but  his  post  life  was  without 
incident  and  so  continued  until  the  outbreak  of  the 
Mexican  War,  when  he  was  sent  to  Newport  Bar- 
racks, Kentucky,  on  recruiting  service,  soon  to  be  or- 
dered with  his  regiment  to  join  Major  General  Win- 
field Scott  in  Mexico.  The  fighting  was  always  against 
heavy  odds.  Hancock  had  his  baptism  in  blood  and  fire 


p'^V 

^r* 

flkfm      "# 

-*5 

^3 

it         5 

■                                          ,  :i- 

Photograph  by  Brown  Brothers 

WINFIELD    SCOTT    HANCOCK 


General  Winfield  S.  Hancock    273 

at  the  entrance  to  the  causeway  at  Churubusco,  that 
guarded  the  road  to  Mexico  City.  His  company  under 
Captain  Hoffman,  led  the  advance.  Losses  were  heavy 
but  the  victory  was  complete.  He  next  took  part  in  the 
storming  of  Molino  del  Rey.  Chapultepec  was  taken 
without  him.  He  was  ill  in  his  tent.  His  conduct  at 
Churubusco,  brought  him  a  brevet  as  first  lieutenant 
and  he  led  the  company  at  Molino  del  Rey.  The  Penn- 
sylvania legislature  thanked  him  among  others  for  gal- 
lant conduct. 

The  war  over  he  did  duty  at  Jefferson  Barracks,  St. 
Louis,  becoming  regimental  quartermaster.  January 
24,  1850,  he  married  Miss  Almira  Russell,  of  St. 
Louis.  Shifted  to  Florida  he  did  duty  for  a  time  at  St. 
Augustine,  then  went  to  Ft.  Leavenworth,  where  the 
Mormon  troubles  of  1857  found  him  and  he  joined 
Albert  Sidney  Johnston  for  the  March  across  the  plains 
to  Salt  Lake.  It  was  attended  with  much  hardship. 
Brigham  Young  came  to  terms  and  there  was  no  fight- 
ing. By  this  time  Hancock  was  a  captain. 

Ordered  to  the  Pacific  after  the  Mormon  troubles 
cooled,  he  marched  his  company  from  Ft.  Bridger, 
Utah,  to  Benecia,  California.  They  were  three  months 
making  the  journey.  Made  chief  quartermaster  he  was 
located  at  Los  Angeles  and  was  there  when  the  civil 
conflict  broke  out  in  1861.  Considerable  secession  sen- 
timent was  active  in  Los  Angeles.  Against  this  the 
Captain  set  his  influence  and  at  the  same  time  asked 
Governor  Andrew  G.  Curtin,  of  Pennsylvania,  for  a 
volunteer  command.  There  was  no  response.  Accord- 
ingly he  applied  for  active  service  to  the  War  Depart- 
ment and  was  ordered  East.  On  his  arrival  in  Washing- 


274     General  Winfield  S.  Hancock 

ton  he  was  assigned  as  Quartermaster  to  the  staff  of 
General  Robert  Anderson,  of  Ft.  Sumter,  who  had 
been  given  the  task  of  holding  Kentucky.  Before  he 
could  reach  the  post,  McClellan,  who  had  been  ap- 
pointed commander-in-chief,  caused  him  to  be  commis- 
sioned a  Brigadier  General  of  Volunteers.  He  was  soon 
on  the  way  to  the  busiest  kind  of  active  service.  His 
commission  bore  the  date  of  September  23,  1861,  and 
his  first  duty  was  in  the  defense  of  Washington.  From 
the  capital,  he  was  transferred  to  McClellan's  army 
and  plunged  into  the  campaign  on  the  Peninsula.  His 
brigade  was  composed  of  the  Fifth  Wisconsin,  the 
Sixth  Maine,  and  Forty-ninth  Pennsylvania  and  the 
Forty-third  New  York  regiments.  Their  first  action 
was  against  the  retreating  confederates  at  Williams- 
burg. His  brigade  led  the  van  against  the  valorous 
troops  of  Jubal  A.  Early  and  James  Longstreet  whom 
he  drove  from  the  field.  "Hancock  was  Superb"  com- 
mented McClellan  in  his  report  to  President  Lincoln. 
His  reward  was  a  brevet  major  in  the  regular  army. 
He  led  the  hard  fighting  to  the  Rappahannock  when 
McClellan  turned  back.  His  next  honor  became  that 
of  a  colonel  in  the  regulars. 

The  Maryland  campaign  was  now  in  order.  It  cul- 
minated in  the  victory  at  Antietam.  Here  again  Han- 
cock distinguished  himself.  Major  General  Israel  B. 
Richardson  was  mortally  wounded  and  Hancock  was 
given  his  division.  "In  front  of  Hancock's  lines"  wrote 
Albert  D.  Richardson,  war  correspondent  of  the  New 
York  Tribune,  after  Antietam,  "a  flag  of  truce  was 
raised.  Hancock  erect  and  soldierly,  with  smooth  face 
and  light  eyes  and  brown  hair,  the  finest  looking  gen- 


General  Winfield  S.  Hancock     275 

eral  in  our  service — accompanied  by  (Thomas  Francis) 
Meagher,  rode  forward  into  a  corn-field  and  met  the 
young  fire-eating  brigadier  of  the  Rebels,  Roger  A. 
Pryor.  Pryor  insisted  that  he  had  seen  a  white  flag  on 
our  front,  and  asked  if  we  desired  permission  to  re- 
move our  dead  and  wounded.  Hancock  indignantly 
denied  that  we  had  asked  for  a  truce,  as  we  claimed  the 
ground,  stating  that  throughout  the  whole  day  we  had 
been  removing  and  ministering  to  both  Union  and 
Rebel  wounded.  He  suggested  a  cessation  of  sharp- 
shooting  until  this  work  was  completed.  Pryor  declined 
this,  and  in  ten  minutes  the  firing  resumed." 

The  removal  of  McClellan  and  his  replacement  by 
Ambrose  E.  Burnside  brought  on  the  disaster  at  Fred- 
ericksburg on  December  13,  1862.  Here  Hancock  re- 
ceived a  flesh  wound  in  the  abdomen  and  his  uniform 
was  seared  with  bullets.  His  appointment  as  Major- 
General  followed.  Burnside  dropped,  Hancock  fol- 
lowed "Fighting  Joe"  Hooker  to  defeat  at  Chancel- 
lorsville.  Four  weeks  later  he  was  given  command  of 
the  Second  Corps  and  held  it  throughout  the  war. 

The  audacious  advance  of  Robert  E.  Lee  into  Penn- 
sylvania now  came  to  test  the  strength  of  the  North. 
In  the  gathering  of  forces  to  meet  it  Hancock  held  the 
rear-guard.  His  corps  was  massed  at  Gettysburg  on 
July  1,  1863.  The  battle  was  on.  John  F.  Reynolds, 
heading  the  advance  had  been  killed.  The  early  advan- 
tages were  with  the  invaders.  Meade  at  once  pushed 
Hancock  to  the  fore.  "For  God's  sake  send  up  Han- 
cock" he  signalled.  "Everything  is  going  at  odds  and 
we  need  a  controlling  spirit."  Hancock  came  up  speed- 
ily and  soon  matters  were  well  in  hand.  He  superseded 


276     General  Winfield  S.  Hancock 

O.  O.  Howard  and  Daniel  E.  Sickles,  his  seniors,  who 
made  no  protest,  so  great  was  the  need  of  the  hour. 
The  second  day  was  a  draw,  but  the  line,  augmented 
by  Hancock,  was  unbroken.  Sickles  lost  his  leg  and 
his  Third  Corps  came  under  Hancock's  control. 

On  the  third  day  befell  the  great  test.  Hancock, 
bands  playing,  banners  flying,  rode  the  length  of  the 
line  under  fire  from  the  enemy.  His  courage  cheered 
the  men  and  moved  them  to  resist  the  great  assault 
that  impended  in  the  charge  led  by  George  Pickett. 
The  story  need  not  be  retold.  When  the  Confederates 
recoiled  they  left  a  field  covered  with  dead  and 
wounded,  five  thousand  prisoners  and  thirty  stand 
of  colors  behind.  The  Southern  soldiers  had  made  a 
majestic  attempt,  but  in  vain.  High  tide  was  then 
reached.  Thereafter  it  receded.  Hancock  was  not  un- 
scathed. He  was  stricken  in  his  saddle,  just  as  the  re- 
treat began.  The  wound  was  severe,  a  tearing  slash 
through  the  thigh.  He  was  taken  to  Norristown  and 
kept  from  service  by  the  disability  until  December  27, 
1863.  ^  being  winter  he  was  assigned  to  recruiting 
duty,  with  headquarters  at  Harrisburg  in  his  native 
state.  He  travelled  about,  being  received  everywhere 
with  great  attention.  New  York  and  Boston  vied  in 
doing  him  honor. 

In  March,  1864,  ne  rejoined  his  corps.  It  had  been 
augmented  to  a  force  of  fifty  thousand  men — a  great 
army  in  itself.  May  4th  began  the  attempt  to  "fight 
it  out  on  this  line  if  it  takes  all  summer."  The  next  day 
Hancock  fought  in  the  second  battle  of  Chancellors- 
ville.  Lee,  much  outnumbered  did  dreadful  damage. 
The  Wilderness  followed  with  worse  results.  Spottsyl- 


General  Winfield  S.  Hancock    277 

vania  was  next  in  order.  Here  Hancock  held  another 
"bloody  angle"  destined  to  be  deeper  dyed  than  that 
at  Gettysburg.  Five  desperate  charges  were  repelled. 
When  the  fight  was  over,  Grant  was  not  victor,  but 
Lee  had  met  with  losses  he  could  not  repair.  Cold 
Harbor  ensued  with  the  most  horrible  slaughter  of 
the  war.  Then  Grant  sat  himself  down  for  months 
before  Petersburg. 

Hancock's  wound  reopened  and  he  was  compelled 
to  take  a  short  leave.  June  27,  1864,  found  him  once 
more  at  the  front.  He  witnessed  the  faulty  mine  ex- 
plosion and  its  disastrous  results.  President  Lincoln 
sent  him  his  commission  as  Brigadier  General  of  the 
regulars.  Some  casual  conflicts  kept  him  busy  until 
November  26th  when  he  was  ordered  to  Washing- 
ton to  organize  a  corps  of  volunteers.  In  February 
1865,  he  went  to  the  Valley  of  Virginia,  with  head- 
quarters at  Winchester,  and  having  under  his  com- 
mand the  departments  of  West  Virginia,  Pennsylvania 
and  Washington,  with  the  Army  of  the  Shenandoah, 
embracing  almost  100,000  men.  Before  it  could  get 
busy  the  collapse  of  the  Confederacy  came  at  Ap- 
pomattox, April  9,  1865.  The  assassination  of  Mr. 
Lincoln  brought  him  to  Washington  as  a  safeguard 
against  a  further  rising.  The  District  of  Columbia  was 
put  under  his  rule.  It  became  his  duty  to  issue  the  order 
which  hanged  the  surviving  conspirators.  He  greatly 
regretted  the  fate  of  Mrs.  Mary  E.  Surratt  and  posted 
couriers  to  carry  a  reprieve  had  President  Andrew 
Johnson  granted  it,  which  he  did  not.  There  is  little 
doubt  now  of  the  poor  woman's  innocence. 

The  General  was  assigned  to  the  Department  of 


278     General  Winfield  S.  Hancock 

the  Missouri,  August  10,  1866,  where  he  did  some 
Indian  fighting  and  was  then  given  charge  of  the  Fifth 
Military  District,  compromising  Louisiana  and  Texas, 
under  the  Congressional  act  which  was  the  beginning 
of  the  series  that  disturbed  the  "reconstruction"  of 
the  South.  There  were  five  of  these  districts,  each 
under  a  major-general  possessing  plenary  powers.  In 
this  instance  he  replaced  Philip  H.  Sheridan  who  had 
not  been  a  success  as  an  administrator.  Known  to  be  a 
Democrat  and  to  have  broad  views  the  General  was 
favorably  received  in  his  district  where  Sheridan  had 
played  the  despot.  He  reached  his  post  on  November 
29,  1867,  and  at  once  proceeded  to  make  his  position 
clear  by  issuing  General  Order  No.  40  that  caused  a 
stir  among  the  extremists  in  Congress  but  warmed  his 
welcome.  In  it  he  laid  down  principles  that  had  they 
been  everywhere  in  effect  would  have  solved  the  sorry 
situation.  He  proposed  to  preserve  the  liberty  of  the 
press,  the  right  of  habeas  corpus,  trial  by  jury,  freedom 
of  speech  and  the  rights  of  persons  and  property.  The 
courts  were  restored  to  their  functions  and  local  gov- 
ernment set  in  motion.  Judge  Jeremiah  S.  Black  of 
Pennsylvania  called  it  an  "admirable  order"  and  as 
"the  first,  most  distinct  and  most  emphatic  recognition 
which  the  principles  of  American  liberty  have  received 
at  the  hands  of  any  high  officer  in  a  southern  com- 
mand. It  has  the  very  ring  of  the  revolutionary  metal. 
Washington  never  said  a  thing  in  better  taste  or  better 
time." 

Called  upon  to  establish  a  military  court  to  try  an 
offender  by  the  general  in  command  in  Texas  he  con- 
signed the  case  to  the  state  tribunal.  He  revoked  Sheri- 


General  Winfield  S.  Hancock     279 

dan's  orders  subordinating  the  courts  and  prohibited 
military  interference  with  elections.  Civil  causes  were 
sent  for  adjustment  where  they  belonged.  Regulations 
governing  the  selection  of  juries  were  abolished.  School 
property  was  restored  to  the  parishes  to  do  as  they 
liked  with  it.  He  refused  to  follow  the  crooked  wishes 
of  the  carpet-bag  governors  and  returned  the  regis- 
tration of  voters  to  the  proper  authorities. 

In  correspondence  with  Governor  E.  M.  Pease,  of 
Texas,  he  declined  to  exercise  arbitrary  power,  finding 
no  need  therefor.  Popular  as  all  this  made  him  in  his 
district,  it  sat  ill  in  Washington  where  the  radical  Re- 
publicans sought  his  removal.  It  was  first  planned  to 
oust  him  by  reducing  the  number  of  major-generals 
and  lowering  his  grade  to  that  of  a  brigadier.  This 
was  rejected  as  dangerous.  They  then  operated  through 
Grant,  who  was  commander-in-chief  and  slated  to  be 
nominated  for  the  presidency.  He  curtailed  Hancock's 
powers  in  so  many  ways  that  he  asked  to  be  relieved 
in  February  27,  1868.  It  was  granted.  He  left  his 
district  amid  universal  respect,  with  an  enhanced  repu- 
tation as  a  wise  and  competent  administrator. 

When  the  Democratic  National  Convention  met  in 
Tammany  Hall,  July  4,  1868,  General  Samuel  J. 
Anderson  of  Portland,  Maine,  placed  Hancock  in 
nomination.  His  vote  rose  to  144  y2  but  on  the  twenty- 
second  ballot  the  nomination  went  to  Horatio  Sey- 
mour. He  served  in  the  Department  of  Dakota,  and 
was  back  in  that  of  the  Atlantic  in  1876,  when  the 
Democratic  convention  again  heard  his  name.  Heister 
Clymer,  of  Pennsylvania,  nominated  him.  He  received 
75  votes  on  the  first  ballot.  On  the  second  the  nomina- 


280     General  Winfield  S.  Hancock 

tion  went  to  Samuel  J.  Tilden,  as  already  recorded. 

In  the  Convention  of  1880  Daniel  Dougherty  of 
Philadelphia,  who  was  indeed  a  "silver-tongued"  ora- 
tor as  he  was  well  named,  nominated  Hancock.  James 
E.  English,  of  Indiana,  was  named  for  his  running 
mate.  During  the  campaign  the  General  remained  at 
his  headquarters  on  Governor's  Island,  New  York 
harbor.  He  was  no  longer  lean,  but  had  filled  out  into 
the  dimensions  of  General  Winf-  eld  Scott,  his  name- 
sake. 

Numbers  of  the  states  had  elections  in  advance  of 
the  national  date  in  November.  Maine  was  the  first  of 
these  balloting  in  September  for  governor.  The  Green- 
back party  which  had  become  strong  in  the  state,  fused 
with  the  Democrats.  The  result  was  the  election  of 
General  Harris  M.  Plaisted  as  governor.  The  Re- 
publicans had  fought  a  great  fight,  with  their  best 
speakers  on  the  stump  and  lost.  Protection  seemed  in 
peril  from  the  man  who  believed  it  to  be  a  local  ques- 
tion and  it  looked,  too,  as  if  the  South  was  coming 
back.  Manufacturers  were  mercilessly  assessed  and 
the  bloody  shirt  was  violently  waved  against  the  test 
in  November.  The  two  items,  plus  the  greatest  cam- 
paign fund  were  unloosed,  proved  too  much  for  the 
Democracy  to  overcome.  Garfield  won,  yet  his  lead 
on  the  popular  vote  was  but  7,018.  In  the  electoral 
college  Garfield  had  214  votes  to  155  for  Hancock. 
The  republican  office  holders  were  "saved"  again  and 
the  tariff  remained  untrimmed. 

There  was  deep  Democratic  disappointment  over 
his  defeat.  The  party  had  put  up  a  notable  campaign 
and  kept  the  Republicans  on  the  defensive.  The  South 


General  Winfield  S.  Hancock    281 

came  back  "solid"  for  the  first  time  since  reconstruc- 
tion. Ten  million  votes  were  cast,  the  largest  number 
in  the  history  of  Presidential  conflicts.  New  Jersey  was 
the  only  Northern  state  carried  by  the  Democracy. 
Nevada  went  for  Hancock  who  also  captured  five 
electors  in  California. 

For  the  rest  of  his  life  the  General's  figure  was  un- 
important. He  remained  in  charge  of  the  Department 
of  the  Atlantic  with  headquarters  at  Governor's  Island, 
where  he  died  February  9,  1886.  He  was  buried  at 
Norristown. 


XVI 
JAMES  G.  BLAINE 


"the  plumed  knight" 


NONE  of  the  aspirants  for  the  Presidency  who 
failed  to  arrive  felt  so  deeply  his  disappoint- 
ment as  James  G.  Blaine  of  Maine,  most 
partisan  of  all  the  Republican  candidates.  He  was  not 
horn  in  the  Pine  Tree  State,  but  was  a  native  of  Penn- 
sylvania, born  at  West  Brownsville,  an  obscure  hamlet, 
January  31,  1830.  He  taught  school  in  Kentucky  for  a 
couple  of  seasons,  then  brought  up  in  Maine,  to  take 
a  hand  in  the  production  of  the  Kennebec  Daily  Jour- 
nal,  printed  at  Augusta,  a  state  paper,  kept  fat  on 
public  printing,  then  and  now.  In  1862  he  was  elected 
to  Congress,  continuing  to  serve  until  1876.  From 
1868  to  1874  he  was  speaker.  Then  the  Democrats 
captured  the  House  and  elected  Michael  C.  Kerr  in 
his  stead.  As  speaker  and  member  he  made  himself 
conspicious  as  a  party  leader,  tilting  continously  with 
the  growing  phalanx  of  "Rebel  Brigadiers"  who  came 
to  Congress  from  the  South  and  making  a  great  name 
for  himself  as  a  party  protagonist.  He  became  next  to 
Roscoe  Conkling,  Senator  from  New  York,  the  most 
conspicuous  Republican  in  the  country,  with  a  popu- 
larity much  beyond  that  of  Conkling,  whom  he  once 
contemptuously  termed  a  Turkey  Cock.  The  Senator 

282 


Photograph  by    Underwood  and   Underwood 

JAMES   G.    BLAINE 


James  G.  Blaine  283 

strutted  in  speech  and  mien  and  the  thrust  went  home. 
Cartoonists  took  it  up  and  thereafter  the  haughty 
Roscoe  figured  as  a  gigantic  gobbler  to  his  deep  dis- 
gust. He  aimed  at  the  Presidency  and  the  popular 
Blaine  got  in  his  way.  There  was  mortal  enmity  be- 
tween them  that  would  have  brought  on  a  duel  fifty 
years  earlier.  Blaine  could  be  extremely  irritating  as 
the  former  Confederates  found  out. 

The  Democrats  in  control  of  Congress  sought  his 
destruction  and  came  near  to  achieving  it.  Blaine  was 
a  money  maker  and  in  the  course  of  accumulating  cash 
engaged  to  sell  a  block  of  securities  of  the  Little  Rock 
and  Fort  Smith  Railroad,  an  enterprise  which  he  had 
aided  by  saving  its  land  grant  from  cancellation  by 
some  good  legislative  advice  when  speaker  during  his 
first  term  in  1869.  After  this  the  promoters  made 
him  "a  most  liberal  proposition"  for  handling  bonds 
to  the  amount  of  $125,000.  A  bonus  of  $125,000  in 
common  stock  and  $125,000  in  preferred  went  with 
the  bonds.  So  did  $125,000  more  in  land-grant  certifi- 
cates. Blaine  kept  the  latter  and  received  besides  a 
further  $125,000  of  land  grant  bonds  and  $32,500  in 
first  mortgage  bonds  as  a  "commission"  for  marketing 
the  $125,000.  It  looks  like  a  pretty  generous  reward 
for  a  plain  financial  transaction.  He  made  some  other 
sales  to  constituents  and  was  rewarded  with  $15,150 
more  on  a  $43,150  transaction.  Seventeen  Maine  men 
took  over  the  several  amounts.  The  stock  proved 
worthless  and  the  bonds  went  into  default.  Naturally 
the  customers  kicked.  Being  Speaker  of  the  House 
and  seeking  further  honors,  Blaine  bestirred  himself 
to  repay  the  losses  and  did  so,  emptying  his  pockets 


284  James  G.  Blaine 

to  do  it.  Later  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Union  Rail- 
road bought  up  the  bonds,  paying  something  more  than 
market  value  for  them.  He  had  taken  back  the  bonds 
from  his  friends,  so  was  lifted  out  of  his  stress  by  this 
purchase  and  on  the  whole  came  out  a  little  ahead. 
This  was  looked  upon  as  a  round-about  way  of  paying 
for  favors  from  the  Speaker  by  the  railroads.  He  was 
charged  with  packing  committees  and  doing  various 
friendly  acts  in  return. 

When  he  became  a  conspicuous  candidate  for  Presi- 
dent in  1876,  these  facts  were  whispered  about  and 
finally  developed  into  public  charges.  He  met  them 
openly  and  if  he  did  not  clear  himself  he  confounded 
his  accusers.  May  2,  1876,  on  the  eve  of  the  Repub- 
lican National  Convention  the  House  instructed  the 
Judiciary  Committee  to  undertake  an  investigation. 
This  was  purely  a  partisan  move  to  kill  off  a  popular 
candidate.  The  committee  got  hold  of  one  James  Mul- 
ligan, who  had  kept  books  for  Warren  Fisher  Jr.,  of 
Boston  with  whom  Blaine  operated  in  the  bond  matter, 
who  gave  evidence  that  part  of  the  transaction  which 
Thomas  A.  Scott  had  declared  was  his,  had  been 
Blaine's  in  fact.  To  back  up  the  truth  of  this  he  casu- 
ally remarked  that  he  had  some  letters  from  Blaine 
which  the  latter  thought  had  been  returned.  This 
startled  the  defendant  who  secured  an  adjournment  of 
the  hearing  at  this  point  and  besought  Mulligan  in 
private  to  give  him  the  letters.  He  showed  great  dis- 
tress, asking  the  favor  in  the  interests  of  his  family 
as  "if  the  Committee  were  to  get  hold  of  those  letters 
it  would  ruin  him  forever."  Mulligan  said  he  would 
not  volunteer  to  produce  them  nor  would  he  give  them 


James  G.  Blaine  285 

to  the  press.  At  this  Blaine,  who  had  read  them  over, 
asked  to  see  them  again,  and  then  pocketed  the  bunch 
as  his  own,  a  correct  view  as  the  copyright  law  now 
stands.  When  the  committee  called  upon  him  to  pro- 
duce them  he  refused  to  do  so,  under  advice  of  his 
counsel,  Matt  H.  Carpenter,  Republican,  and  J.  S. 
Black,  Democrat,  as  having  no  relevancy  to  the  pur- 
poses of  the  inquiry.  The  date  of  the  Republican  Na- 
tional Convention,  June  14,  1876,  was  close  at  hand. 
He  contrived  to  secure  by  arrangement  a  cablegram 
from  one  Josiah  Caldwell,  in  London,  confirming 
Scott,  and  then  rose  to  a  question  of  privilege  and  read 
the  "Mulligan"  letters  himself  before  the  House,  the 
galleries  being  packed  with  applauding  friends.  With 
dramatic  declamation  he  invited  the  confidence  of 
44,000,000  of  his  countrymen.  Proctor  Knott,  Chair- 
man of  the  Judiciary  Committee  had  withheld  the 
Caldwell  cable,  believing  it  to  be  framed.  This  was  a 
mistake  which  Blaine  capitalized  in  denunciation  of 
what  he  called  concealment  of  his  vindication.  The 
audacity  of  the  whole  performance  dazed  the  Demo- 
crats and  left  Blaine  triumphant  if  not  innocent.  He 
had  read  as  much  of  the  letters  as  he  cared  to,  chang- 
ing their  sequence,  and  editing  as  he  went  on  to  suit 
his  purposes.  Rhodes  sets  him  down  as  guilty.  He  had 
outgeneralled  his  foes,  however,  by  his  impudence  and 
left  them  helpless  to  proceed  further.  This  was  on 
June  5th.  The  committee  resumed  its  sessions,  but 
made  no  headway,  June  10th  it  again  demanded  the 
production  of  the  letters.  Again  Blaine  refused  and 
they  continued,  then  and  thereafter,  in  his  possession. 
On  the  following  Sunday  Blaine  was  stricken  in  church 


286  James  G.  Blaine 

with  what  appeared  to  be  a  slight  attack  of  apoplexy. 
It  was  called  a  sunstroke.  He  lay  ill  for  days.  The  com- 
mittee met  no  more  and  never  reported.  Blaine  does 
not  mention  either  the  investigation  or  the  illness  in 
his  Twenty  Years  of  Congress. 

When  the  Convention  opened  at  Cincinnati  on  June 
14th,  his  was  the  most  prominent  name  before  it.  The 
delegates  had  been  elected  previous  to  the  inquiry  and 
were  not  influenced  by  it.  The  arrangements  for  his 
nomination  were  carried  out,  Colonel  Robert  G.  Inger- 
soll  "infidel,"  but  the  most  eloquent  orator  of  the  day, 
presented  his  name  in  a  speech  that  remains  memor- 
able. John  M.  Harlan  had  nominated  Benjamin  H. 
Bristow,  of  Kentucky,  when  Colonel  Ingersoll  arose 
and  commanded  attention.  As  an  enthusiastic  Chicago 
reporter  wrote  of  his  fellow-Illinoisan:  "Ingersoll  had 
won  his  audience  before  he  had  spoken  a  word."  The 
audience  yes,  the  delegates,  no,  as  it  turned  out.  Clever 
indeed  was  his  peroration  and  mightily  moving.  Re- 
gardless of  Mulligan  he  summed  up  the  popular  re- 
quirements of  a  candidate  by  the  people. 

They  demand  [he  shouted]  a  man  whose  political  repu- 
tation is  spotless  as  a  star;  but  they  do  not  demand  that  this 
candidate  shall  have  a  certificate  of  moral  character  signed 
by  a  Confederate  Congress.  The  man,  who  has,  in  full,  heaped, 
and  rounded  measure,  all  these  splendid  qualifications,  is  the 
present  friend  and  gallant  leader  of  the  party — James  G. 
Blaine.  Our  country  crowned  with  the  vast  and  marvellous 
achievements  of  its  first  century,  asks  for  a  man  worthy  of  the 
past,  and  prophetic  of  her  future,  asks  for  a  man  who  has 
the  audacity  of  genius,  asks  for  the  man  who  is  the  grandest 


James  G.  Blaine  287 

combination  of  heart,  conscience  and  brain  beneath  the  flag 
— such  a  man  is  James  G.  Blaine. 

Let  us  pause  while  the  galleries  roar  to  admire  this 
apogee  of  adulation !  Ingersoll  went  on : 

For  the  Republican  host,  led  by  this  intrepid  man,  there  can 
be  no  defeat.  This  is  a  grand  year — a  year  filled  with  recol- 
lections of  the  Revolution,  filled  with  proud  and  tender  memo- 
ries of  the  past;  with  the  sacred  legends  of  liberty — a  year 
in  which  the  sons  of  freedom  will  drink  from  the  fountains 
of  enthusiasm ;  a  year  in  which  the  people  vote  for  a  man  who 
has  preserved  in  Congress  what  our  soldiers  won  upon  the 
field ;  a  year  in  which  they  call  for  the  man  who  has  torn  from 
the  throat  of  treason  the  tongue  of  slander — for  the  man  who 
has  snatched  the  mask  of  Democracy  from  the  hideous  face  of 
rebellion;  for  the  man  who,  like  an  intellectual  athlete,  has 
stood  in  the  arena  of  debate  and  challenged  all  comers,  and 
who  is  a  total  stranger  to  defeat. 

Like  an  armed  warrior,  like  a  plumed  knight,  James  G. 
Blaine  marched  down  the  halls  of  the  American  Congress  and 
threw  his  shining  lance  full  and  fair  against  the  brazen  fore- 
heads of  the  defamers  of  his  country  and  the  maligners  of 
his  honor.  For  the  Republican  party  to  desert  this  gallant 
leader  now  is  as  though  an  army  should  desert  their  general 
upon  the  field  of  battle.  James  G.  Blaine  is  now,  and  has  been 
for  years,  the  bearer  of  the  sacred  standard  of  the  Republican 
party.  I  call  it  sacred  because  no  human  being  can  stand  be- 
neath its  folds  without  becoming  and  remaining  free. 

Gentlemen  of  the  convention:  In  the  name  of  the  Great 
Republic,  the  only  republic  that  ever  existed  upon  this  earth, 
in  the  name  of  all  her  defenders  and  of  all  her  supporters,  in 
the  name  of  all  the  soldiers  dead  upon  the  field  of  battle,  and 
in  the  name  of  all  of  those  who  perished  in  the  skeleton  clutch 


288  James  G.  Blaine 

of  famine  at  Andersonville  and  Libby,  whose  sufferings  he 
so  vividly  remembers,  Illinois, — Illinois  nominates  for  the  next 
President  of  this  country,  that  prince  of  parliamentarians, — 
that  leader  of  leaders — James  G.  Blaine. 

Sounds  absurd  now,  does  it  not!  Blaine  was  sitting 
comfortably  in  Congress,  while  men  starved  in  Ander- 
sonville and  Libby.  He  never  served  a  day  in  the  field, 
yet  the  impudent  Ingersoll  could  claim  for  him  a  can- 
didacy on  the  fact  that  he  "vividly"  remembered  their 
sufferings !  The  crowd  was  thrilled  anew.  Cheers  choked 
the  proceedings.  When  order  came  again  Oliver  P. 
Morton  of  Indiana,  Roscoe  Conkling  of  New  York, 
Rutherford  B.  Hayes  of  Ohio,  Marshall  Jewell  of 
Connecticut,  and  John  F.  Hartranft,  of  Pennsylvania, 
were  placed  in  nomination.  Blaine  led  with  285  votes. 
Morton  followed  with  124,  Bristow  113,  Conkling  99, 
Hayes  61,  Hartranft  58,  Jewell  11,  and  William  A. 
Wheeler,  of  New  York  3.  Blaine  gained  1 1  on  the  sec- 
ond ballot.  There  was  little  change  until  the  fifth  bal- 
lot when  Michigan  raised  the  Hayes  figure  to  104, 
Morton  being  the  loser.  On  the  sixth  Blaine  reached 
308,  Hayes  113.  The  Conkling  forces  convinced  that 
he  could  not  win,  conferred  with  other  delegates  to 
bring  about  the  defeat  of  Blaine,  by  agreeing  on  Hayes. 
While  the  seventh  roll  call  was  under  way  the  shift 
came.  When  it  ended  Hayes  had  384  votes,  Blaine 
351.  Twenty-one  stood  by  Bristow.  The  nomination 
of  Hayes,  then  Governor  of  Ohio  for  the  third  time, 
was  made  unanimous.  The  lance  of  the  Plumed  Knight 
lay  shivered  in  the  dust.  Congressman  William  A. 
Wheeler,  of  Malone,  N.  Y.,  received  the  Vice-Presi- 
dential nomination. 


James  G.  Blaine  289 

President  Hayes  ignored  Blaine.  He  took  Lot  M. 
Morrill  of  Maine  from  the  Senate  and  made  him  Sec- 
retary of  the  Treasury.  Maine  then  sent  Blaine  to  the 
Senate  to  fill  his  seat.  The  new  senator  was  no  less 
a  figure  in  the  Upper  House  than  he  had  been  in  the 
lower  clashing  with  the  Turkey  Cock  Conkling  and 
making  himself  variously  interesting. 

When  the  National  Republican  Convention  met  at 
Chicago  on  June  2,  1880,  Blaine  was  again  a  candi- 
date. Here  Conkling  made  his  great  stand  for  U.  S. 
Grant,  with  306  delegates  who  afterwards  proudly 
wore  a  medal  struck  in  recognition  of  their  steadfast- 
ness. James  F.  Joy  of  Michigan  nominated  Blaine.  On 
the  first  ballot  he  received  284  votes.  Other  candidates 
were  James  A.  Garfield  and  John  Sherman,  both  of 
Ohio.  Garfield  began  with  but  one  vote  to  his  credit. 
Ballot  after  ballot  followed  with  little  change.  On  the 
twentieth  Sherman  advanced  to  120.  By  the  thirty-fifth 
Garfield  had  grown  to  50.  Grant's  306  never  wavered. 
On  the  thirty-sixth  roll  call  the  Blaine  and  Sherman 
leaders  gave  up  the  fight  and  swung  the  major  part  of 
their  support  to  Garfield,  who  was  nominated  by  399 
votes.  Forty-two  clung  to  Blaine. 

The  bitterness  of  Blaine's  second  defeat  was  sweet- 
ened by  the  discomfiture  of  Conkling,  who  was  now  to 
lose  his  leadership  and  the  newly  elected  President  his 
life  as  the  outcome  of  the  quarrel.  Garfield  set  aside 
Conkling's  claim  to  dictate.  Chester  A.  Arthur,  a 
faithful  Conkling  follower,  was  named  for  Vice-Presi- 
dent. The  ticket  won  and  Thomas  C.  Piatt,  his  New 
York  colleague  in  the  Senate  united  with  Conkling  in 
a  demand  that  Garfield  follow  their  will.  Conkling 


290  James  G.  Blaine 

wanted  to  name  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  Gar- 
field declined  to  obey.  Instead  he  placed  the  hated 
Blaine  at  the  head  of  his  Cabinet  as  Secretary  of 
State  and  gave  William  Windom,  of  Minnesota,  the 
Treasury.  He  recognized  Conkling  by  appointing  Levi 
P.  Morton  as  minister  to  France,  but  mortally  of- 
fended in  the  choice  of  Blaine.  To  add  to  Conkling's 
humiliation  he  named  William  H.  Robertson,  an  im- 
placable opponent  of  Conkling  and  Piatt  to  the  im- 
portant post  of  Collector  of  the  Port  of  New  York. 
Conkling  and  Piatt  resigned  in  resentment,  and  the 
Half-breed-Stalwart  situation  developed  in  New  York, 
leading  to  the  assassination  of  Garfield.  Both  houses 
invited  Blaine  to  deliver  the  address  at  joint  memorial 
services,  in  the  President's  honor,  held  February  27, 
1882.  This  was  his  peroration: 

As  his  end  drew  near,  his  early  cravings  for  the  sea  re- 
turned. The  stately  mansion  of  power  had  been  to  him  the 
wearisome  hospital  of  pain,  and  he  begged  to  be  taken  from  its 
prison  walls,  from  its  oppressive,  stifling  air,  from  its  lone- 
someness  and  its  hopelessness.  Gently,  silently,  the  love  of  a 
great  people  bore  the  pale  sufferer  to  the  longed  for  healing 
of  the  sea,  to  live  or  die  as  God  should  will,  within  sight  of  its 
heaving  billows,  within  sound  of  its  manifold  voices.  With  wan, 
fevered  face  tenderly  lifted  to  the  cooling  breeze,  he  looked 
out  wistfully  upon  the  ocean's  changing  wonders,  on  its  far 
sails  whitening  in  the  morning  light,  on  the  serene  and  shining 
pathway  of  the  stars.  Let  us  think  that  his  dying  eyes  read 
a  mystic  meaning  which  only  the  rapt  and  parting  soul  may 
know.  Let  us  believe  that  in  the  silence  of  the  receding  world 
he  heard  the  great  waves  breaking  on  a  farther  shore,  and  felt 
already  upon  his  washed  brows  the  breath  of  eternal  morning. 


James  G.  Blaine  291 

"Who  now  living  could  pronounce  such  a  eulogy  ?" 
queries  John  Sherman  in  his  Recollections  published 
in  1895.  He  was  given  the  thanks  of  Congress  for 
his  eloquence. 

With  the  death  of  Garfield,  Blaine  retired  from  the 
Cabinet,  December  18,  1881,  and  thereafter  devoted 
himself  afresh  to  the  pursuit  of  the  Presidential  prize. 
Conkling  had  risked  his  all  in  resigning.  The  New 
York  legislature  refused  to  rebuke  the  administration 
by  sending  him  and  Piatt  back  to  the  Senate.  In  1882 
he  forced  the  nomination  of  Judge  Charles  J.  Folger 
on  the  New  York  Republicans,  to  be  crushed  by  a 
plurality  of  192,000  in  favor  of  an  unknown  Demo- 
crat, Grover  Cleveland.  Conkling  practiced  law  in  New 
York  thereafter  and  took  no  further  part  in  politics. 
Yet  complete  as  his  downfall  had  been  his  course 
created  a  nemesis  for  Blaine  in  the  person  of  Cleve- 
land. Pennsylvania  also  elected  Robert  E.  Pattison, 
a  young  Democrat  for  Governor.  These  convulsions 
did  not  bode  well  for  Republican  success  in  1884. 
While  Conkling  was  definitely  out  o|f  politics,  his 
"me  too"  Thomas  C.  Piatt,  was  decidedly  in.  The 
Half-Breeds  controlled  New  York,  and  he  set  patiently 
to  work  making  it  his  own.  Meanwhile  he  was  quite 
willing  that  Blaine  should  take  his  turn. 

Chester  Alan  Arthur  had  made  an  exemplary  Presi- 
dent, quite  contrary  to  expectation.  The  machine 
[Republicans  were  feebly  "for"  him  when  the  National 
Convention  met  at  Chicago  on  June  3,  1844.  Anti- 
Blaine  Republicans  were  behind  George  F.  Edmunds 
of  Vermont,  an  able  iceberg.  They  were  represented 
at  Chicago  by  young  Theodore  Roosevelt,  just  cutting 


292  James  G.  Blaine 

his  political  teeth,  Senator  George  F.  Hoar,  William 
Walter  Phelps,  Henry  Cabot  Lodge,  George  William 
Curtis  and  Andrew  D.  White.  They  proved  impotent. 
So  did  the  supporters  of  John  Sherman  and  John  A. 
Logan.  The  delegates  had  been  picked  for  Blaine  and 
on  the  fourth  ballot  named  him.  His  bedraggled  plume 
had  been  taken  out  from  among  the  mothballs  and 
dusted  for  the  occasion  while  frantic  admirers  adver- 
tised that  he  "would  sweep  the  country  like  a  prairie 
fire."  That  he  did  not  was  no  fault  of  energy  or 
popularity  on  his  part. 

Cleveland's  nomination  by  the  Democrats  led  to  an 
exciting  campaign.  New  York  had  broken  the  Repub- 
lican hold  because  of  Conkling's  attempt  at  dictator- 
ship, and  it  developed  marked  hostility  to  Blaine,  in 
which  Massachusetts  joined.  Men  of  high  repute  like 
George  William  Curtis,  President  Charles  W.  Eliot, 
of  Harvard,  Carl  Schurz,  Thomas  Wentworth  Hig- 
ginson,  the  Rev.  James  Freeman  Clark  and  many 
"Greeley"  Republicans  revolted.  The  scathing  New 
York  Sun  called  them  "mugwumps"  an  alleged  Mo- 
hegan  word  for  superior  persons  and  this  became  their 
trademark.  The  Sun  battled  Cleveland,  whom  it  as- 
sailed unmercifully,  thereby  losing  about  half  of  its 
readers  to  Joseph  Pulitzer  who  had  taken  over  the 
New  York  World  May  10,  1883,  and  as  he  said 
"made  him  a  present"  of  New  York  newspaperdom. 
The  World  seized  the  situation  with  Mr.  Pulitzer's 
customary  alertness  and  made  the  most  of  it. 

The  taunts  of  the  highbrow  bolters  brought  Blaine 
reinforcements  from  the  lower  regions.  In  New  York, 
Tammany  Hall,  which  hated  Cleveland,  bolted  the 


James  G.  Blaine  293 

state  ticket,  and  put  up  one  of  its  own.  This  was  ex- 
pected to  pull  away  the  Irish  vote  from  Cleveland. 
Blaine  had  cleverly  catered  to  the  Celts,  letting  it  be 
known  that  his  grandmother  was  Irish.  This  advan- 
tage was  inadvertently  spoiled  on  October  29,  1884, 
when  receiving  a  delegation  of  500  Protestant  clergy- 
men at  the  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel,  their  spokesman,  the 
Rev.  Samuel  D.  Burchard,  D.D.,  a  Methodist  divine, 
characterized  the  Democracy  as  the  party  of  "Rum, 
Romanism  and  Rebellion."  The  reporters  caught  the 
alliteration,  but  seemingly  Blaine  did  not,  for  he  failed 
to  fend  it  off  in  his  reply.  Blazoned  in  the  press  it  raised 
a  resentment  that  did  much  to  check  the  shift.  To  add 
to  the  ill  luck  of  the  day,  Blaine  was  the  guest  that 
evening  at  a  gorgeous  dinner  given  in  his  honor  by  the 
Plutocrats  of  New  York,  which  Walter  McDougall 
the  World! s  cartoonist  made  much  of  in  a  famous  car- 
toon labelled  "The  Royal  Feast  of  Belshazzar  Blaine 
and  the  Money  Kings"  spread  full  across  the  front 
page  of  the  paper. 

The  ghost  of  Mulligan  was  revived.  Blaine  was  also 
accused  of  promoting  while  Secretary  of  State  some 
rather  smelly  guano  claims  against  Peru.  Jacob  R. 
Shipherd,  son  of  the  founder  of  Oberlin  College  was 
the  wicked  partner  in  this.  Some  unpleasant  things 
were  dug  up  too,  affecting  John  A.  Logan,  of  Illinois, 
the  candidate  for  Vice-President. 

Most  merciless  of  all  Blaine's  opponents  was  Bern- 
hard  Gillam,  cartoonist  for  Puck.  Previous  to  1884  a 
Greek,  one  Captain  George  Costentenus,  had  been  the 
chief  attraction  of  Barnum  and  Bailey's  Greatest  Show 
on  Earth,  posing  in  tights  as  a  tattooed  man.  His  epi- 


294  James  G.  Blaine 

dermis  had  been  marvelously  decorated  by  some  artist 
in  making  pictures  on  the  human  skin.  Taking  the  cap- 
tain as  a  model  Gillam  produced  a  Tattooed  Blaine, 
his  cuticle  well  covered  with  the  various  scandals  laid 
at  his  door.  It  was  probably  the  most  far-reaching, 
effective  cartoon  ever  drawn  and  being  widely  circu- 
lated did  dreadful  damage  to  the  Republican  candi- 
date. 

"British  Gold"  and  the  uCobden  Club"  now  ap- 
peared for  the  first  time  in  American  politics.  These 
were  accused  of  trying  to  bring  about  free  trade  and  to 
expose  American  workmen  to  competition  with  the 
pauper  labor  of  Europe.  Cleveland  was  for  a  tariff  for 
revenue.  The  fat-fryers  sizzled  the  manufacturers  and 
ulard"  flowed  freely.  The  Republicans  had  unlimited 
money;  the  Democrats  having  nothing  to  deliver  or 
protect  were  poor.  W.  W.  Dudley,  of  Indiana,  who 
resigned  as  Commissioner  of  Pensions  for  the  purpose, 
attended  to  the  trying-out.  He  apportioned  the  voters 
of  his  state,  which  was  pivotal,  into  "blocks  of  five"  for 
easy  purchase.  Although  illegal,  office-holders  were 
sweated  for  funds.  United  States  marshals  were  set  to 
work  in  the  South,  now  "solid"  but  shaky  in  spots. 
There  were  Blaine  hopes  in  the  situation,  though 
everything  pointed  to  a  close  contest. 

Election  day  fell  on  November  4th.  Toward  night 
the  feeling  in  New  York  grew  tense.  The  returns  were 
meagre.  There  was  nothing  from  Indiana.  Suddenly 
the  Western  Union  telegraph  became  silent.  It  was 
in  control  of  Jay  Gould,  who  had  his  offices  in  the  big 
building,  at  the  corner  of  Broadway  and  Dey  Street. 
At  nightfall  a  great  crowd  gathered  in  front  of  the 


BLAINE    AS    "THE    TATTOOED    MAN" 

This  cartoon  by  Gillam,  which   appeared  in  PucJc,  June  4,   1884,  was  one  of  a  deadly 
series  showing  Blaine  as  "The  Tattooed  Man,"   because  of  his   political   deals 


James  G.  Blaine  295 

structure  demanding  news.  None  was  forthcoming. 
Gould  was  inside.  There  were  loud  cries  of  uNo  more 
1876!  No  more  eight  to  seven !"  Then  as  the  im- 
patience grew,  some  brought  ropes  and  the  throng 
sang  in  an  ugly  chorus:  "Hang,  hang,  hang  Jay 
Gould."  Finally  they  got  tired  of  waiting  in  the  si- 
lence and  dark  and  went  home. 

New  York  State  had  been  carried  apparently  by 
something  like  2,000  plurality  for  Cleveland.  Two 
"Rotten  Boroughs" — Long  Island  City,  in  Queens, 
controlled  by  its  Mayor  Patrick  Jerome  Gleason,  and 
Gravesend,  a  town  in  Kings  County,  wherein  Coney 
Island  was  located,  gave  the  margin.  The  Western 
Union  would  not  send  out  their  figures,  contrasting 
rather  unpleasantly  with  the  zeal  that  sent  Zach  Chand- 
ler's "claims"  to  fruition  in  1876. 

Ten  days  passed  before  it  was  certain  that  Cleve- 
land had  conquered  the  Plumed  Knight.  The  New 
York  majority  of  around  2,000  for  him  on  the  first 
count  simmered  down  officially  to  but  1 149.  The  state's 
totals  were  563,154  and  562,005  respectively. 

In  the  electoral  college  Cleveland  had  219  votes  to 
182  for  Blaine.  On  the  popular  vote  his  plurality  was 
24*268,  the  totals  being  4,871,/!  18  and  4,840,850 
respectively.  The  solid  South,  New  York,  New  Jersey, 
Connecticut  and  Indiana  did  the  business. 

Following  his  defeat  Mr.  Blaine  retired  from  public 
life  for  four  years,  during  which  he  made  a  long  stay 
abroad,  coming  back  much  improved  in  health  and 
spirits,  though  he  grew  gray  during  his  absence,  and 
his  bulbous  nose  a  bit  more  bulky.  Zealous  friends 
would  have  wished  the  candidacy  on  him  in  1888.  He 


296  James  G.  Blaine 

would  have  none  of  it :  probably  could  not  have  secured 
the  nomination.  It  was  John  Sherman's  turn,  but  he 
was  set  aside  and  Benjamin  Harrison  had  the  distinc- 
tion of  defeating  Grover  Cleveland,  quite  to  the  gen- 
eral amazement.  The  loss  of  New  York  which  David 
B.  Hill  won  as  Governor  was  the  cause.  Cleveland's 
re-election  had  seemed  certain. 

President  Harrison  made  Blaine  his  Secretary  of 
State  and  he  filled  the  place  with  distinction.  Harrison 
was  a  competent  executive,  unpopular  with  his  party. 
The  Secretary  surprised  those  who  recalled  the  part 
played  by  the  tariff  in  1884,  by  devising  a  series  of  rec- 
iprocity treaties.  He  had  to  handle  the  lynching  of 
sundry  Italian  subjects  in  New  Orleans  as  the  outcome 
of  too  many  Mafia  murders,  settle  the  seal-catching 
relations  with  Canada  and  a  complication  growing  out 
of  the  Balmaceda  revolution  in  Chile,  whither  his  dic- 
tum had  sent  Patrick  Egan,  an  injudicious  minister. 
In  a  shore  row  in  Valparaiso,  an  American  man-of- 
war's  man  was  killed.  The  incident  nearly  provoked 
war,  but  Chile  receded  when  the  crisis  was  reached  and 
apologized  properly. 

When  Harrison  went  out  of  office  March  4,  1893, 
Mr.  Blaine  retired  from  public  life.  He  had  a  fine 
villa  at  Bar  Harbor,  Maine,  and  in  the  winter  re- 
sided in  Washington.  He  died  in  that  city,  January 
27,   1893. 

To  the  history  of  his  country  he  added  several  ex- 
citing chapters,  and  to  his  Twenty  Years  of  Con- 
gress appended  a  valuable  volume  of  political  survey 
in  which  he  was  singularly  fair  to  the  Democratic 
fathers.  In  his  own  active  days  he  was  a  partisan  of 


James  G.  Blaine  297 

partisans.  Practicing  no  profession  and  engaging  in 
no  business,  he  died  rich.  They  called  him  the  "mag- 
netic man  from  Maine"  because  he  had  a  warm  hand- 
shake and  a  good  voice.  Maine  is  not  much  given  to 
manufacturing  men  of  magnetism.  In  explanation  it 
may  be  recalled  that  he  was  born  in  Pennsylvania  and 
possessed  Irish  blood. 


XVII 
BENJAMIN  F.  BUTLER 

COMPLEX    CHARACTER 

IN  the  National  Democratic  Convention,  which  met 
at  Charleston,  S.  C,  on  April  23,  i860,  Benjamin 
Franklin  Butler  voted  fifty-seven  times  for  Jef- 
ferson Davis  of  Mississippi,  to  head  the  ticket  as  can- 
didate for  President,  and  then  bolted,  in  company  with 
Caleb  Cushing  and  four  other  delegates  from  Mass- 
achusetts, "upon  the  ground,"  as  he  put  it,  after  a  long 
effort  to  be  heard,  "that  there  had  been  a  withdrawal 
in  whole  or  in  part,  of  a  majority  of  the  States,"  and 
further,  which  was  a  master  move  personal  to  himself, 
he  "could  not  sit  in  a  convention  where  the  African 
slave  trade,  which  was  Piracy,  according  to  the  laws 
of  his  country,  was  openly  advocated."  As  nearly  all 
of  the  bolters  were  pro-slavery,  it  is  not  clear  what  im- 
pulse guided  Butler  in  either  action.  Davis  was  cer- 
tainly pro-slavery.  Butler  opposed  Douglas,  the  lead- 
ing candidate,  who  was  against  it,  but  on  lines  that 
failed  to  fit  either  phase  of  the  situation.  Cushing  was 
chairman  of  the  convention  and  an  intimate  friend  of 
Davis.  The  intricacies  are  too  deep  to  solve  and  But- 
ler's curious  complex,  here  and  elsewhere,  through  all 
his  life,  remains  inexplicable. 

In   his    autobiography,    a    ponderous,    overwritten 

298 


Photograph  by  Brown  Brothers 

BENJAMIN    F.    BUTLER 


Benjamin  F.  Butler  299 

volume  issued  in  1892,  General  Butler  says  he  was 
born  in  Deerfield,  New  Hampshire,  November  5,  18 18, 
about  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  evidently  to  prove 
that  he  came  through  by  daylight!  His  family  was 
Scotch-Irish,  sourly  Presbyterian.  His  mother  was 
Charlotte  Ellison;  his  father,  John  Butler.  The  latter 
was  a  captain  in  the  War  of  1812.  Disqualified  by  ac- 
cident from  serving  on  land,  John  Butler  manned  a 
Portsmouth  privateer,  and,  among  other  activities, 
carried  dispatches  to  Andrew  Jackson  at  New  Orleans. 
He  followed  the  sea  after  the  war,  and  took  letters 
of  marque  from  Simon  Bolivar,  who  was  routing  Spain 
out  of  Venezuela.  While  in  this  service,  he  died  of 
yellow  fever  at  St.  Christopher.  The  father  was  a 
handsome,  dashing  man,  the  mother  plump  and  plain. 
Benjamin  favored  the  latter,  plus  a  drooping  eyelid 
that  gave  his  face  an  evil  look.  "Old  Cockeye"  they 
called  him  in  the  army  of  the  James — also  some  other 
things. 

Charlotte  Ellison  was  a  second  wife,  and  of  her 
three  children,  one,  Andrew  Jackson,  died  in  infancy. 
The  eldest,  a  daughter,  lived  twenty-seven  years.  Ben- 
jamin was  puny  and  ill-favored.  He  went  to  a  village 
school,  where  he  learned  to  read  in  six  weeks.  The 
village  shoemaker  loaned  him  Robinson  Crusoe,  which 
his  mother  balanced  with  an  equal  number  of  pages 
from  the  Bible.  On  such  fodder  he  became  a  precocious 
reader,  taking  in  all  that  was  to  be  had  from  the  Farm- 
ers' Almanac  to  Rollin's  Ancient  History.  For  a  time, 
when  small,  he  was  taken  over  by  his  grandmother, 
who  was  of  the  New  Hampshire  Cilleys,  and  a  woman 
of  character  and  capacity. 


300  Benjamin  F.  Butler 

Lowell  had  grown  around  the  falls  of  the  Merri- 
mac,  and  became  the  second  city  in  Massachusetts. 
Here  his  mother  made  her  residence,  in  1828,  and  the 
lad  grew  up  with  the  town.  It  was  ever  after  his  home. 
When  through  with  high  school,  the  boy  sought  a 
West  Point  cadetship,  but  failed  to  attain  it.  The 
mother  did  not  approve,  though  she  tried  to  get  him 
the  appointment.  This  failing,  she  sent  Ben  to  Water- 
ville  College,  at  the  Maine  town  of  that  name,  now 
Colby  University,  in  the  hope  that  he  would  become 
a  Baptist  clergyman.  No  youth  ever  shot  wider  from 
the  mark  of  hope  than  he.  With  proper  perversity  he 
took  more  interest  in  chemistry  than  salvation. 

Given  a  mind  more  active  than  that  of  any  professor, 
he  was  soon  unpopular  with  the  faculty,  and  his  singu- 
lar smartness  kept  him  out  of  the  regard  of  his  fellow 
students.  He  shirked  prayers  and  was  fined  ten  cents 
a  shirk.  This  cut  deeply  into  his  slender  funds.  Worse 
than  this,  it  lowered  his  rank  as  a  student,  quite  un- 
fairly, he  thought.  His  reason  refused  to  accept  ortho- 
doxy and  he  petitioned  to  be  excused  from  services. 
This  nearly  caused  him  to  be  expelled. 

Sore  and  sour,  he  took  to  attending  rural  trials  and 
discovered  that  his  taste  led  to  the  law.  His  junior 
studies  interested  him  more  than  those  of  the  previous 
two  years,  and  he  picked  up  as  a  student.  So  he  gradu- 
ated with  7.5  points  to  his  credit,  out  of  a  possible 
10 — what  amounted  to  skinning-through — and  weighed 
but  ninety-seven  pounds.  A  trip  in  a  fishing  schooner 
filled  out  a  slender  frame  and  cured  a  cough  caught 
from  bathing  in  the  icy  Kennebec. 

Back  to  Lowell,  he  began  to  study  law  in  William 


Benjamin  F.  Butler  301 


Smith's  office.  He  did  some  school  teaching  while  he 
read.  In  1840  Judge  Charles  Henry  Warren  admitted 
him  to  the  bar.  He  stumped  for  Martin  Van  Buren, 
who  was  running  for  re-election.  Thus  Butler  identified 
himself  with  the  Democratic  party  and  remained  in 
the  fold  for  twenty  years. 

In  1836,  he  met  and  fell  in  love  with  Sarah  Hildreth, 
who  was  then  a  budding  actress.  The  lady  was  re- 
ceptive, but  declined  to  leave  the  stage  until  the  wooer 
amounted  to  something.  He  reached  this  point  in  1844, 
when  the  pair  were  married  on  the  16th  of  May.  She 
lived  until   1877. 

His  legal  practice  began  on  the  low  level  of  the 
police  court.  Here,  and  in  higher  tribunals,  he  acted 
on  the  principle  that  his  duty  was  to  his  client  rather 
than  the  law.  His  uncanny  conception  of  loopholes 
soon  gave  him  a  reputation,  good  with  the  unregen- 
erate,  and  bad  with  the  straight-laced  members  of  the 
bar,  who  came  to  dread  the  aptitude  with  which  he 
developed  new  angles  of  jurisprudence,  detected  hid- 
den meanings  in  statutes  and  cleared  his  clients. 

Once,  there  is  tradition,  he  went  beyond  the  law. 
A  scamp  of  a  client  was  plainly  guilty.  Butler  asked 
the  privilege  of  consulting  him  apart  for  a  moment. 
The  pair  went  into  a  vacant  room  in  the  court  house. 
There  he  revealed  to  his  rascal  the  fact  that  his  case 
was  hopeless.  "What  shall  I  do?"  asked  the  man.  But- 
ler pointed  to  an  open  window.  Then  he  returned  to 
court  and  sat  with  the  attorneys,  looking  vacant  and 
twiddling  his  thumbs. 

"Where  is  your  client?"  queried  the  judge,  when  the 
case  came  in  its  turn.   "I   don't  know"   replied  Ben 


302  Benjamin  F.  Butler 

blandly.  "The  last  time  I  saw  him  he  was  climbing  out 
of  the  window." 

Naturally,  the  episode  made  the  town  grin  and  in- 
creased his  fame.  Supreme  audacity  was  always  his 
great  stock  in  trade.  His  proceedings  horrified  Wil- 
liam Smith,  Esq.,  in  whose  office  he  had  dug  into 
Blackstone.  Mr.  Smith  met  him  in  the  post  office  one 
day  after  some  peculiarly  iniquitous  performance  and 
said  scathingly:  "Sir,  I  am  ashamed  of  you!  I  feel  dis- 
graced that  you  ever  studied  law  in  my  office." 

Ben  cocked  his  eye  a  little  more  cockily,  but  made 
no  reply.  Smith  lived  to  see  the  audacious  youth  the 
leading  lawyer  of  the  city,  and  almost  of  the  State,  in 
causes  that  were  apt  to  be  desperate  or  unsavory.  The 
man  had  an  instinct  of  the  perverse,  a  certain  sympathy 
for  the  under  dog  and  a  deep  desire  to  lay  the  mighty 
low.  All  these  things  stand  out  in  his  story. 

They  led  him  into  local  politics  and  then  into  the 
wider  field  of  State  and  Nation.  Lowell  was  a  factory 
town  where  operatives  toiled  fourteen  hours  a  day. 
Butler  arrayed  himself  against  this  barbarity,  and 
amid  aristocratic  Whig  surroundings,  set  himself  up 
as  a  Democrat,  and  a  pro-slavery  one  at  that.  He  did 
not  believe  in  bondage,  but  the  Constitution  did,  and 
he  believed  in  the  Constitution.  There  was  no  authority 
for  a  fourteen  hour  day  beyond  the  will  of  the  em- 
ployer. For  long  the  operatives  had  been  boys  and  girls 
from  the  New  England  farms.  So  talented  were  some 
of  the  females,  that  they  established  in  the  Lowell 
Offering,  a  magazine  of  much  literary  merit.  One  of 
these  girls  became  Mrs.  Paran  Stevens,  dictator  of 
New  York  society  for  a  generation. 


Benjamin  F.  Butler  303 

The  mill  population  underwent  a  change  with  the 
coming  of  the  Irish.  They  drove  out  the  New  England- 
ers.  Their  intrusion  was  much  resented  by  a  Native 
American  party,  colloquially  known  as  "Know-Noth- 
ings" and  trouble  broke  out  in  various  cities.  Mobs 
operated  against  Catholics  in  Philadelphia,  and  the 
hostile  spirit  became  a  factor  in  politics. 

Butler  espoused  the  side  of  the  newcomers  and  an- 
nexed them  to  his  Democratic  support  in  Lowell,  with 
the  ten  hour  day  as  an  issue.  His  personal  position 
straddled  all  fences.  "As  to  the  powers  and  duties  of 
the  Government  of  the  United  States,"  he  wrote  later 
in  life,  "I  am  a  Hamiltonian  Federalist.  As  to  the 
rights  and  privileges  of  the  citizen,  I  am  a  Jeffersonian 
Democrat."  Between,  it  might  be  noted,  he  was  a 
pretty  active  Republican,  though  his  days  ended  in 
the  Democratic  fold,  tinted  with  Greenbackism. 

Though  standing  by  the  Constitution  on  slavery, 
Butler  did  not  think  the  duty  of  returning  escaped 
negroes  lay  with  the  State,  and  the  Supreme  Court 
agreed  with  him.  Anomalous  as  it  may  seem  to  those 
historians  who  insist  that  the  Democracy  was  the  party 
of  slavery,  Butler  engineered  a  coalition  between  the 
Free  Soil  party,  that  came  to  life  in  the  late  forties, 
and  the  Democrats,  against  the  invincible  Whigs.  He 
was  some  time  in  bringing  this  about  over  the  opposi- 
tion of  the  so-called  "Hunker"  Democrats.  The  elec- 
tion of  1849  paved  the  way.  In  185 1,  the  combination, 
though  not  everywhere  complete,  broke  the  power  of 
the  Whigs  in  Massachusetts.  Butler  was  recognized 
as  the  genius  who  had  brought  it  about,  and  denounced 
accordingly,  the  Lowell  Courier  observing: 


304  Benjamin  F.  Butler 

"That  the  infamous  arch  demagogue,  B.  F.  Butler, 
has  publicly  boasted  that  his  object  is  to  break  down 
the  corporations,  to  reduce  the  value  of  their  stock  to 
25  or  30  cents  on  the  dollar  in  order  that,  by  the  de- 
preciation, the  Democrats  might  buy  it  up,  employ 
Democratic  agents  and  have  good  Democratic  times. 
Let  all  who  have  at  heart  the  welfare  of  the  city  and 
its  workingmen  remember  this  at  the  polls." 

For  this  the  publisher  of  the  Courier  was  tried  and 
convicted  of  libel,  but  the  editor  escaped  a  like  fate 
when  tried  before  the  same  Whig  judge  for  emitting 
the  following: 

"This  notorious  demagogue  and  political  scoundrel, 
having  swilled  three  or  four  extra  glasses  of  liquor, 
spread  himself  at  whole  length  in  the  City  Hall  last 
night.  *  *  *  The  only  wonder  is  that  a  character  so 
foolish,  so  grovelling  and  obscene,  can  for  a  moment 
be  admitted  into  decent  society  anywhere  outside  of 
the  pale  of  prostitutes  and  debauchees. " 

The  jury  naively  decided  that  there  was  no  proof 
the  editor  meant  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  though  the  item 
was  headed  "Ben  Butler."  So  the  scribe  went  free. 
Butler  did  not  get  through  his  ten  hour  legislation,  but 
the  working  day  came  down  to  eleven  and  a  quarter 
hours,  and  eventually  to  ten,  where  it  long  stuck.  The 
mills  were  operated  by  "agents"  of  the  stockholders. 
These  men  wielded  great  and  despotic  power  in  finance 
and  politics.  Hence  the  allusion  to  the  desire  to  re- 
place these  with  Democrats.  They  were  all  Whigs.  The 
free  trade  Democrats  were,  of  course,  accursed  in  their 
eyes.  One  outcome  of  the  melee  was  Butler's  election 
to  the  Massachusetts  Legislature.  He  was  then  thirty- 


Benjamin  F,  Butler 305 

four.  The  Whigs  were  in  a  minority,  the  control  rest- 
ing between  the  Democrats  and  the  Free-Soilers.  But- 
ler credited  the  victory  to  &  secret  ballot  law  he  had 
helped  put  over,  that  put  an  end  to  the  practice  whereby 
the  Whig  employer  could  take  his  men  to  the  polls  in 
battalions  and  compel  them  to  vote  according  to  his 
way  of  thinking. 

Butler's  next  public  place  was  in  the  Massachusetts 
Constitutional  Convention  of  1853.  Here  he  parted 
company  with  the  Irish  Catholics,  who  defeated  the 
adoption  of  the  new  charter,  because  of  a  clause  which 
forbade  State  aid  to  sectarian  schools.  They  controlled 
the  balance  of  power  in  Massachusetts  even  at  that 
early  date.  Yet  Butler  had  fought  know-nothingism 
as  hard  as  any  man  could. 

Butler  often  ran  for  Congress,  but  was  always  de- 
feated. In  1858,  he  succeeded  in  reaching  the  State 
Senate,  where  he  managed  to  reform  the  judiciary  as 
far  as  the  hide-bound  State  Constitution  would  permit. 

Beside  his  political  activity,  Butler  had,  in  1839,  be- 
come a  member  of  the  Lowell  Guard,  a  local  militia 
company,  and  from  private  he  grew  to  colonel  in  the 
fifties.  Governor  Gardner,  as  the  outgrowth  of  know- 
nothingism,  ordered  him  to  disband  an  Irish  company 
called  the  Jackson  Guards.  This  Butler  refused  to  do. 
He  proved  it  was  not  legal,  whereupon  the  governor 
reorganized  the  militia  and  left  Butler  without  a  regi- 
ment, by  reason  of  his  residence.  He  laid  low  until  time 
came  to  select  a  brigadier-general,  which  was  done  by 
the  vote  of  field  officers.  He  was  chosen,  and  Gardner 
had  to  sign  his  commission.  To  top  his  glory,  President 
Franklin  Pierce  named  him  as  a  visitor  to  West  Point, 


306  Benjamin  F.  Butler 

Jefferson  Davis,  Secretary  of  War,  signing  his  appoint- 
ment. This  military  interest  was  to  have  great  conse- 
quences for  both  Butler  and  his  country. 

When  after  the  futile  Democratic  Convention  held 
at  Charleston  in  May,  i860,  the  warring  Democrats 
reassembled  at  Baltimore  in  June,  the  convention 
was  somewhat  changed  in  personnel,  but  not  in  pur- 
pose. Butler  bolted  again  and  joined  in  nominating 
John  C.  Breckinridge.  He  had  at  Charleston,  been 
shocked  by  threats  of  secession,  and  by  the  bolting 
there  of  the  South  Carolina  delegates  who  made  open 
threats  of  disunion  unless  their  views  prevailed.  So 
certain  he  was  that  war  was  in  the  shaping,  that  he 
made  mental  calculations  as  to  how  best  to  capture  the 
town.  George  F.  Sheply  of  Portland,  Me.,  afterwards 
one  of  his  brigadiers,  observed  on  their  way  home 
from  the  South:  "Butler,  when  we  cross  the  Potomac 
again  we  shall  be  carrying  muskets  on  our  shoulders." 
Butler  agreed.  The  prophesy  came  all  too  true.  Yet  he 
accepted  the  nomination  for  governor  of  Massachu- 
setts on  the  Breckinridge  ticket,  receiving  but  6,000 
votes!  As  he  says:  "The  year  before  I  had  received 
35,326  out  of  108,495  cast.  I  had  done  nothing  in  the 
meantime  to  change  the  vote  except  to  declare  myself 
unalterably  opposed  to  a  slave  code  to  be  established 
by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  under  our 
Constitution,  for  that  court  would  be  obliged  to  follow 
the  legal  principle  enunciated  in  the  decision  in  the 
Dred  Scott  case,  and  this  could  only  lead  to  the  reopen- 
ing of  the  African  slave  trade  on  the  high  seas,  where 
it  had  been  prohibited  for  nearly  half  a  century,  and 
riveting  the  chains  on  the  negroes  forever," 


Benjamin  F.  Butler  307 

He  had  been  appointed  one  of  a  committee  of  fifteen 
to  meet  in  Washington  and  reorganize  the  Democracy. 
There  was  so  little  to  reorganize  that  only  seven  kept 
the  tryst.  Nothing  was  or  could  be  done.  While  in  the 
city  Butler  found  it  seethed  with  secession  talk.  He 
called  on  his  friend  Jefferson  Davis,  then  Senator  from 
Mississippi.  They  talked  long.  As  an  outcome,  Butler 
asked  Davis  how  he  could  justify  himself  in  joining  the 
South  in  breach  of  his  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  United 
States,  which  he  had  taken  as  a  soldier  and  a  Senator. 
Davis  replied:  "My  first  oath  of  allegiance  is  to  the 
State  of  Mississippi,  and  my  allegiance  to  the  State 
of  Mississippi  overrides  my  allegiance  to  the  United 
States." 

Butler  asked  if  he  really  meant  that  he  would  secede 
with  his  State.  Davis  said  he  would.  "Will  you  come 
with  us?"  he  added,  "No,"  replied  Butler,  "I  shall  go 
with  my  State  because  of  my  allegiance  to  the  United 
States." 

Davis  showed  some  emotion.  "Is  it  possible,  then" 
he  said,  "that  we  shall  meet  hereafter  as  enemies?" 
Butler  told  him  curtly  that  would  depend  upon  him- 
self. "I  never  afterwards  saw  him"  records  Butler, 
"which  was  a  piece  of  good  fortune  for  him,  for  if  we 
had  met  while  I  was  in  command  in  the  United  States 
Army,  he  would  have  been  saved  a  great  deal  of  the 
discomfort  which  he  suffered  by  being  confined  in 
prison."  By  this  he  means  he  would  have  hanged  the 
President  of  the  Confederacy  had  he  been  given  the 
chance.  Butler  had  talent  as  a  hangman. 

The  scene  now  shifted  to  one  of  war.  Sumter  was 
fired  on  April   n,   1861,  and  the  call  for  troops  re- 


308  Benjamin  F.  Butler 

sounded.  Butler  put  his  brigade  at  the  service  of  the 
State,  and  did  more,  by  engaging  bankers  to  finance 
the  sudden  call  on  its  Treasury.  Suspected  as  a  pro- 
slave  Democrat,  he  was  the  first  to  draw  the  sword, 
and  for  companion-in-arms  had  Col.  Edward  F.  Jones 
of  the  Sixth  Massachusetts,  another  Democrat,  at  his 
side.  The  details  of  his  seizure  of  Annapolis  after  the 
assault  on  Jones'  regiment  in  Baltimore,  his  securing 
the  safety  of  Washington,  are  all  matters  of  history. 
With  active  hostilities  his  progress  was  fast,  his  serv- 
ices considerable.  From  the  beginning  he  was  in  con- 
flict with  all  kinds  of  authority,  and  so  remained  until 
the  end.  Activity  and  audacity  such  as  his  has  small 
place  amid  red  tape  and  military  formularies.  To  de- 
tail his  contentions  would  be  tedious.  He  was  often 
right  and  as  often  wrong.  The  account  about  balances. 

Being  given  the  Department  of  Annapolis,  he  con- 
sidered Maryland  under  his  jurisdiction,  sending  a 
squad  to  Frederick  to  capture  Ross  Winans,  the  Balti- 
more engineer  who  was  charged  with  making  pikes  of 
the  John  Brown  pattern  for  the  Baltimoreans  who 
mobbed  the  Sixth  regiment,  and  a  steam  cannon  de- 
signed to  annihilate  the  armies  of  the  North.  He  was 
promptly  released  by  the  Washington  authorities.  But- 
ler's next  move  was  to  seize  Baltimore,  marching  upon 
the  city  in  a  storm  after  dark,  and  capturing  an  em- 
inence which  commanded  the  town. 

For  these  evidences  of  energy  he  was  censured  by 
Gen.  Winfield  Scott,  his  commander-in-chief,  and  re- 
moved from  the  department.  Politics  got  busy,  how- 
ever, and  Simon  Cameron,  Lincoln's  first  Secretary 
of   War,    had   him    commissioned   as   major-general. 


Benjamin  F.  Butler  309 

He  hesitated  to  accept,  fuming  under  Scott's  rebuke. 
Cameron  urged  him  as  a  Democrat  not  to  sulk.  He 
accepted  and  was  sent  to  command  Fortress  Monroe, 
save  for  its  regular  troops.  The  huddle  of  blunders 
and  incompetencies  that  marked  all  the  early  stages 
of  the  conflict  now  began  to  assemble.  Located  ninety- 
six  miles  from  Richmond,  with  no  enemy  of  account  in 
the  way,  Butler  wished  to  move  against  it.  Lack  of 
orders  would  not  have  stopped  him,  but  lack  of  men 
did.  He  tried  their  temper  in  attacking  a  small,  ill- 
armed  rebel  post  at  Big  Bethel,  but  did  not  head  the 
three  regiments  involved  in  person.  Abram  Duryea  led 
with  his  Zouaves.  The  other  two  regiments,  whose 
names  may  remain  nameless,  became  frightened,  fired 
into  each  other  and  thus  did  much  more  damage  than 
the  enemy,  which  skedaddled,  but  not  until  a  rifle  shot 
had  killed  the  gallant  Major  Theodore  Winthrop,  who 
essayed  to  rally  the  demoralized  soldiers.  There  was 
nothing  to  wonder  at  in  the  performance,  but  it  dis- 
couraged the  uOn  to  Richmond"  cry  which  Butler 
had  endeavored  to  obey.  He  did,  however,  secure  New- 
port News  and  Hampton,  and  could  have  taken  Nor- 
folk had  he  been  supported,  thus  saving  the  Navy 
Yard  and  the  Merrimac,  beside  a  big  Northern  scare. 
One  thing  the  general  did  do  effectively.  He  opened 
the  door  to  freedom  for  slaves.  Three  negroes  came 
through  the  lines  and  their  owner,  Colonel  Mallory, 
sent  Major  E.  L.  Carey,  his  aid  and  agent,  to  Butler 
with  a  flag  of  truce  to  claim  his  property  under  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Law.  Butler  declined  to  give  them  up 
on  the  ground  that  Virginia,  having  seceded,  was  a 
foreign  country.  He  therefore  declared  the  negroes  to 


310  Benjamin  F.  Butler 

be  "contraband  of  war"  and  set  them  to  work  on  the 
fortifications.  This  was  the  first  and  only  sensible 
thing  done  anent  the  slaves  until  the  Emancipation 
Proclamation  broke  their  chains. 

The  black  people  came  flocking  in  and  were  duly 
sheltered  and  set  to  work.  Butler  was  never  quite  sure 
of  the  strict  legality  of  his  act,  but  the  results  were 
satisfying  and  certainly  relieved  the  Government  of 
anything  like  the  direct  action  which  it  so  long  hesi- 
tated to  take,  from  fear  that  the  North  would  not  sup- 
port abolition,  which  really  required  a  Constitutional 
amendment  to  have  legal  effect.  The  step  won  him 
great  renown  above  Mason  and  Dixon's  Line,  and 
much  abuse  below  it,  where  the  South  had  the  curious 
idea  that  it  could  do  as  it  pleased  and  not  suffer  con- 
sequences. Theodore  Winthrop  declared  it  was  an 
epigram  that  wrought  freedom.  It  did. 

Meanwhile,  Bull  Run  had  been  fought  and  lost. 
The  North  was  in  a  panic.  Henry  J.  Raymond,  in  the 
New  York  Times,  was  clamoring  to  have  Lincoln  set 
aside  and  George  Law,  a  New  York  street  car  mag- 
nate, put  in  his  place  as  dictator.  Old  Gen.  John  E. 
Wool  was  dragged  from  retirement  and  put  over  But- 
ler at  Fortress  Monroe.  He  instructed  Butler  to  move 
against  Hatteras  Inlet  on  the  Virginia  seacoast  side 
of  North  Carolina.  The  expedition  went  by  sea,  Butler 
on  the  revenue  cutter,  Harriet  Lane.  The  warships 
cleared  the  shore  batteries.  Some  troops  were  landed 
with  difficulty.  Samuel  C.  Barron,  an  ex-U.  S.  naval 
commodore,  was  in  command  of  the  Confederates.  He 
soon  surrendered.  Butler's  orders  required  that  he 
should  plug  up  the  inlet  by  sinking  some  schooners 


ONE    GOOD    TURN     DESERVES    ANOTHER 


A   BROAD   HINT   TO   THE   DEMOCRATIC   CONVENTION. 


"BEN"    BUTLER,    THE    CANDIDATE 

A  laughable  cartoon  by  Gillam,  in   Puck,  July  9,    1894 


Benjamin  F.  Butler  311 

laden  with  sand.  He  thought  it  should  be  kept  and 
defended,  and  taking  steps  to  do  so,  departed  for 
Washington  to  make  his  own  report.  With  Gustavus 
V.  Fox  and  Frank  P.  Blair  he  went  to  the  White 
House  and  roused  Mr.  Lincoln  from  bed.  On  hearing 
the  news  the  President  grasped  Fox  by  the  waist  and 
waltzed  him  around  the  room  in  joyful  exultation. 
Nobody,  as  Butler  remarked,  had  done  anything  else 
except  get  thrashed  at  Bull  Run.  He  was  the  whole  war 
up  to  date  on  the  side  of  success. 

Scott  was  old  and  vain,  and  Simon  Cameron  an  in- 
competent Secretary  of  War.  The  President  was  har- 
assed and  perplexed.  He  sympathized  with  Butler's 
go-ahead-itativeness,  but  was  embarrassed  by  the  snarl 
of  red  tape  about  the  War  Department,  and  the  dif- 
ficulties caused  by  jealousy  and  questions  of  rank.  But- 
ler, up  to  Bull  Run,  and  after,  had  been  the  big  show. 
He  was  a  Democrat  and  open  to  partisan  suspicion. 
As  a  way  out,  having  asked  for  a  little  leave,  he  was 
sent  home  on  recruiting  service.  Here  he  showed  great 
zeal,  summoning  regiments  to  the  colors  in  all  the 
New  England  states.  The  governors  were  cordial  and 
quick  to  respond  outside  of  Massachusetts,  where  John 
A.  Andrew,  famous  as  a  war  governor,  would  have 
none  of  him.  He  declined  to  commission  officers  se- 
lected by  Butler,  because  they  were  Democrats.  The 
governor's  course  was  not  indorsed  by  Lincoln,  who 
broke  the  deadlock  by  creating  a  military  district  and 
putting  Butler  in  charge  of  it.  This  raised  a  sizeable 
row  -and  caused  much  discomfort  for  the  Administra- 
tion. Believing  in  Butler,  Mr.  Lincoln  now  assigned 
him  to  command  the  military  operations  against  New 


312  Benjamin  F.  Butler 

Orleans,  where  Commodore  David  G.  Farragut  was 
about  to  take  the  aggressive  with  his  fleet.  Accord- 
ingly, Butler  packed  3,500  men,  including  Col.  Neai 
Dow,  father  of  Prohibition,  on  an  iron  passenger 
steamer  called  the  Mississippi,  and  headed  them  for 
Ship  Island,  a  white  sand  bar  commanding  the  mouths 
of  the  Mississippi  and  handy  to  Mobile. 

Whether  from  treachery  or  stupidity,  the  captain 
grounded  the  vessel  on  the  shoals  off  Hatteras.  They 
were  assisted  by  the  blockader  Mt.  Vernon  in  the  nick 
of  time,  as  the  fluke  of  an  anchor  had  punched  a  hole 
in  the  bow  of  the  Mississippi,  which  filled  her  forward 
compartment.  Fortunately,  the  bulkhead  stood.  But- 
ler had  sworn  to  stand  by  his  ship,  and  there  was  a 
pretty  chance  of  going  down  with  her.  He  patched  the 
hole  with  a  device  of  his  own,  and  with  bow  down  and 
stern  in  the  air,  the  tub  made  Ship  Island. 

It  is  needless  to  detail  Farragut's  successful  opera- 
tions. But  having  passed  Forts  Jackson  and  St.  Philip 
and  cowed  New  Orleans,  the  admiral  turned  the  situa- 
tion over  to  Butler,  who,  in  his  capacity  as  commander 
of  the  Department  of  the  Gulf,  now  reached  the  top 
of  his  fame.  This  did  not  come  through  any  military 
exploits,  for  his  force  did  no  fighting.  It  was  as  ad- 
ministrator of  the  angry,  rebellious  city  that  he  gained 
a  ripe  store  of  laurels  and  hatred. 

The  city  was  insolent  in  its  attitude  and  could  not 
believe  itself  conquered.  William  B.  Mumford,  a  sport 
and  gambler,  pulled  down  the  flag  on  the  Custom 
House,  tore  it  to  bits  and  paraded  the  town  with  a 
strip  in  his  buttonhole.  Butler  caught  him  and  hanged 
him  from  a  beam  jutting  out  of  a  Custom  House  win- 


Benjamin  F.  Butler  313 

dow.  Women  spat  on  his  officers.  He  proclaimed  that 
such  offenders  would  be  treated  as  women  of  the  town. 
This  was  regarded  as  an  insult  of  the  first  dimensions. 
It  even  travelled  abroad  and  was  commented  on  un- 
favorably by  the  eminent  Lord  Palmerston  in  the 
British  Parliament.  "Pam"  even  went  so  far  as  to  ad- 
vise the  Washington  government  to  repudiate  the 
order.  It  declined  to  do  so.  There  was  no  more  fem- 
inine expectoration  in  New  Orleans.  Sanitation  became 
his  next  triumph.  It  was  confidently  expected  by  the 
Confederacy  that  the  yellow  fever  would  drive  the 
"Beast,"  as  he  was  termed,  out  of  the  city.  Instead,  he 
kept  the  fever  out.  The  poor  were  starving  and  idle. 
He  fed  them  and  gave  them  work.  His  performances 
alone  kept  the  North  out  of  the  dumps,  indeed  Thur- 
low  Weed  wrote  John  Bigelow :  "We  are  in  a  bad  way. 
I  wish  that  Ben  Butler  had  been  elected  President — or 
that  even  now  was  in  Halleck's  place." 

The  foreign  Consuls  were  actively  on  the  side  of  the 
Confederacy — some  of  them  under  arms.  He  curbed 
their  conduct.  Soon  he  was  master,  to  the  good  fortune 
of  all  concerned.  He  was  assuredly  some  satrap !  More 
than  all  this,  he  raised  the  first  regiment  of  black 
troops,  whose  number  grew  to  160,000  before  the 
fighting  was  over.  Furthermore,  he  restored  sound  cur- 
rency, driving  out  the  Confederate  paper,  and  gaining 
back,  for  Northern  merchants,  credits  that  had  been 
confiscated.  Naturally,  the  North  rang  with  his  prow- 
ess. James  Parton,  the  historian,  wrote  General  But- 
ler at  New  Orleans  a  volume  fat  with  eulogy.  He 
was  still  a  Democrat  and  the  shrewd  William  H.  Sew- 
ard, the  Administration's  political  pilot,  saw  that  a 


314  Benjamin  F.  Butler 

Presidential  possibility  was  ripening  under  the  warm 
Louisiana  sun.  Accordingly,  Butler  was  recalled  on 
November  9,  1862,  ostensibly  because  the  foreign  Con- 
suls had  protested  to  their  governments  against  his 
arbitrary  acts,  and  that  Louis  Napoleon  was  offended. 
As  that  adventurer  was  meddling  in  Mexico,  and  en- 
deavoring to  persuade  Britain  to  recognize  the  South, 
it  became  coincidentally  convenient  to  concede  some- 
thing to  him.  This  was  Butler's  official  scalp. 

There  was  a  good  deal  more  fear  of  Butler's  pos- 
sible political  prowess  than  of  Napoleon,  though  the 
Emperor  kept  a  fleet  of  warships  in  the  gulf,  one  of 
which  had  the  nerve  to  follow  Farragut  up  the  river. 

The  command  of  the  Gulf  was  given  over  to  N.  P. 
Banks,  also  from  Massachusetts,  who  made  a  mess  of 
it.  Butler's  recall  wrought  much  joy  in  the  South,  and 
Jefferson  Davis,  for  whom  he  had  so  frequently  voted 
at  Charleston,  issued  a  proclamation,  in  which  he  was 
declared  to  be  ua  felon,  deserving  of  capital  punish- 
ment," to  be  no  longer  "considered  or  treated  simply 
as  a  public  enemy  *  *  *  but  as  an  outlaw  and  com- 
mon enemy  of  mankind"  and  "that,  in  the  event  of  his 
capture,  the  officers  in  command  of  the  capturing  force 
do  cause  him  to  be  immediately  executed  by  hanging." 

A  like  fate  was  decreed  all  officers  serving  under 
him.  The  private  soldiers  were  mercifully  exempted  as 
being  only  "instruments,"  and  not  "free  agents,"  in 
the  commission  of  a  long  list  of  alleged  crimes  listed 
in  the  proclamation.  Judah  P.  Benjamin  wrote  it.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Davis  cabinet,  and  came  from 
New  Orleans.  One  Richard  Yeadon  of  Charleston,  of- 
fered $10,000  reward  for  Butler  "dead  or  alive." 


Benjamin  F.  Butler  315 


Well  knowing  that  party  politics  lay  behind  his  re- 
call, Butler  visited  Lincoln  and  made  his  position 
plain.  He  would  either  go  back  to  New  Orleans  or 
home.  The  President  offered  him  Grant's  post  in  Mis- 
sissippi, with  the  lure  that  he  could  swell  his  army  with 
colored  volunteers.  Butler  stood  fast  on  his  ground 
and  offered  to  return  his  major-general's  commission. 
He  was  told  to  keep  it  and  take  a  vacation.  This  he 
enjoyed  until  November  2,  1863,  when  he  was  given 
command  of  the  Department  of  Virginia  and  North 
Carolina,  to  which  was  added  the  duty  of  commis- 
sioner for  the  exchange  of  prisoners  of  war.  This  task 
was  soon  made  light  by  Grant,  who  had  become  com- 
mander-in-chief, and  objected  to  exchanges  as  tending 
to  strengthen  the  enemy  and  prolong  the  war.  Butler 
now  took  over  the  Army  of  the  James.  He  established 
great  bases  at  City  Point  and  Bermuda  Hundred, 
thereby  opening  the  door  for  Grant  to  proceed  to  Rich- 
mond, via  Petersburg,  after  he  had  failed  in  his  bloody 
and  useless  Wilderness  campaign.  Butler's  own  moves 
were  pretty  well  checked  by  the  active  Confederates. 
He  fought  one  considerable  battle — that  of  Drury's 
Bluff,  and  dug  the  celebrated  Dutch  Gap  canal.  His 
plans  for  reaching  Richmond  were  stopped  by  the  con- 
solidation of  his  army  with  that  of  the  Potomac,  on 
January  8,  1865. 

His  activities  have  been  much  criticized,  but,  studied 
carefully,  they  seem  to  have  been  sound.  The  Dutch 
Gap  canal  avoided  the  defenses  at  Drury's  Bluff.  Our 
gunboats  could  have  proceeded  to  Richmond,  had  there 
been  an  officer  in  command  daring  enough  to  make  the 
attempt.  Indeed,  Farragut  was  sent  for  to  look  it  over 


316  Benjamin  F.  Butler 

at  the  eleventh  hour.  Before  he  could  act,  Lee  had 
surrendered. 

Politically,  Butler  had  shifted  his  gears.  Lincoln, 
in  the  election  of  1864,  dropped  Hannibal  Hamlin  of 
Maine,  for  running  mate  and  took  on  Andrew  John- 
son of  Tennessee — a  smart  piece  of  political  profiteer- 
ing, it  was  thought.  Butler  intimates  that  Lincoln  of- 
fered him  the  place.  He  left  the  front  to  take  military 
charge  in  New  York,  to  ensure  a  "fair"  election  re- 
sult, November  7,  1864.  He  did  this  with  some  thou- 
sands of  troops,  and  also  "put  down"  an  alleged  con- 
spiracy to  push  the  price  of  gold  up  to  300,  as  an 
adverse  influence  on  the  election.  He  kept  it  below  260, 
by  warning  the  speculators. 

The  last  act  of  his  military  career  was  not  glorious. 
Ordered  to  proceed  against  Fort  Fisher,  which  suc- 
cessfully guarded  the  Cape  Fear  River  below  Wil- 
mington, for  the  easy  use  of  blockade  runners,  he  de- 
layed to  fit  up  a  bombship,  which  was  to  blow  up  the 
works,  but  only  blew  itself  up,  and  that  feebly,  after 
a  long  hesitancy. 

Soon  after,  David  D.  Porter  and  Alfred  H.  Terry, 
took  the  fort  in  gallant  fashion.  Lee  surrendered;  Joe 
Johnston  gave  up  to  Sherman  and  the  war  was  over. 

Butler  now  became  a  full-fledged  Republican  and  a 
member  of  Congress  from  the  Essex  district,  where  he 
had  a  summer  cottage,  beating  Richard  Henry  Dana 
of  Three  \Years  Before  the  Mast  fame.  He  was  in- 
volved in  the  attack  on  President  Andrew  Johnson, 
and  became  one  of  the  committee  that  sought  his  im- 
peachment. Partisan  in  all  things,  Butler  shone  large 
in  a  partisan  Congress.  The  rascality  of  Reconstruc- 


Benjamin  F.  Butler  317 

tion,  the  corrupt  politics  of  Grant's  first  Administra- 
tion, had  much  of  Butler  in  them.  He  filled  his  pockets. 
A  great  stone  castle  still  stands  across  the  way  from 
the  Capitol.  He  built  and  lived  in  it  to  be  handy  to 
the  works.  Replacing  Charles  Summer  as  the  leader 
of  the  Massachusetts  forces,  he  degraded  the  State 
by  the  appointments  he  fathered,  and  so  did  much  to 
provoke  the  independent  revolt  of  1872.  He  lost  his 
seat  in  1874.  After  two  years  retirement,  he  was 
elected  from  the  Lowell  district  in  1876,  in  a  bolt 
against  Judge  E.  R.  Hoar.  The  two  years  that  fol- 
lowed were  his  last  as  a  Republican. 

Ambitious  to  be  governor  of  Massachusetts,  he 
tried  hard  for  the  Republican  nomination.  The  silk 
stockings  were  too  much  for  him.  Accordingly,  he  ran 
as  an  Independent,  in  1878,  and  lost.  The  next  year  he 
captured  the  nomination  of  the  Democrats — any  party 
would  now  do;  he  was  getting  old  and  in  a  hurry  for 
the  honor.  He  was  beaten.  In  1880,  he  supported  Han- 
cock, and  in  1882,  won  the  coveted  office  as  a  Demo- 
crat. During  his  term  he  made  a  great  scandal  of  the 
conduct  of  the  State  almshouse  at  Tewksbury.  It  was 
charged  that  the  bodies  of  paupers  were  sold  to  the 
Harvard  Medical  College  for  dissection,  and  that  the 
skins  of  some  had  been  tanned.  They  made  poor 
leather.  (Carlyle  alleged  that  the  skins  of  young  aristo- 
crats, who  mocked  at  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau,  were 
tanned  and  used  to  bind  his  books  during  the  French 
Revolution.)  The  charges  were  not  strong  enough  to 
give  Butler  a  second  term  in  the  State  House,  though 
he  made  a  vigorous  campaign.  I  heard  him  speak  in 
Tremont  Temple.  He  was  a  big,  bulbous  man,  shaped 


318  Benjamin  F.  Butler 

then  like  a  pouter  pigeon;  very  bald,  with  a  mountain 
of  a  head.  His  face  was  red  and  his  drooping  eyelids 
gave  him  a  curiously  unpleasant  expression.  Dema- 
gogue was  trade-marked  all  over  him. 

Though  a  delegate  to  the  Democratic  Convention  at 
Chicago  in  1884,  he  bolted  the  nomination  of  Grover 
Cleveland,  on  the  excuse  of  free  trade,  and  became 
the  candidate  of  the  dying  Greenbackers.  In  this  he  had 
the  support  of  Charles  A.  Dana  and  the  -New  York 
Sunf  to  whom  Mr.  Cleveland  was  "a  good  man,  weigh- 
ing 250  pounds."  In  the  result  he  weighed  as  many 
tons.  Dana  was  crushed,  his  paper  reduced  to  the  low- 
est rank  in  New  York,  and  Butler's  public  career 
ended.  But  his  bolt  helped  to  elect  Cleveland. 

Of  Butler's  eminence  there  can  be  no  dispute.  As 
a  lawyer  he  pleaded  many  causes  and  was  more  than 
often  victorious.  He  possessed  acumen  and  insight 
such  as  is  given  few  men,  together  with  a  boldness  that 
verged  on  the  unscrupulous.  These  qualities  made  for 
success.  Thus  he  became  rich,  and  detested.  The  aris- 
tocracy of  his  State  regarded  him  with  horror;  the 
leaders  of  his  party  feared  and  hated  him.  Yet,  in  spots 
he  served  his  country  well.  In  New  Orleans  he  was  the 
right  man  in  the  right  place;  in  Congress  the  reverse. 
The  greater  part  of  his  repute  rested  on  notoriety 
rather  than  glory. 

The  general  never  lost  the  love  of  the  sea,  picked 
up  on  his  first  fishing  trip.  When  the  wartime  navy 
was  cleared  up,  he  acquired  the  famous  yacht  America, 
winner  of  the  celebrated  cup,  which  had  been  captured 
running  the  blockade.  In  this  marvel  of  the  shipbuild- 
er's art  he  and  his  son  Paul  spent  many  pleasant 


Benjamin  F.  Butler  319 

hours.  The  vessel  was  turned  over  to  the  Government 
by  his  heirs,  and  is  now  part  of  the  equipment  of  the 
Annapolis  Naval  Academy,  still  the  envy  of  yacht 
builders,  and  much  studied  as  a  model. 

General  Butler  died  at  Lowell,  January  n,  1893. 
When  Judge  E.  Rockwood  Hoar  was  asked  if  he  in- 
tended to  attend  the  funeral,  he  replied:  uNo,  but  I 
approve  of  it."  This  seems  to  be  the  verdict  that 
stands  against  his  name. 


XVIII 
WILLIAM  JENNINGS  BRYAN 

"prince  of  peace" 

FROM  the  days  of  Continental  currency  to  the 
founding  of  the  Federal  Reserve  Bank  in  19 15, 
the  United  States  had  been  a  fertile  field  for 
financial  heresies.  A  fast  growing  country,  with  slow 
communications,  limited  credit,  and  a  shortage  of  cir- 
culating medium,  made  it  easily  subject  to  financial  dis- 
tress. Of  the  "hard  money"  stock,  silver  was  relatively 
scarcer  than  gold,  with  a  varying  value  affected  by  the 
supply,  which  finally  caused  its  demonitization — the 
celebrated  "Crime  of  1873."  Wild  cat  currency,  and 
bank  notes  that  were  seldom  tame,  kept  the  country  in 
monetary  misery.  When  the  government  greenback 
was  invented  in  1862  it  soon  became  so  much  below 
par  as  to  imperil  the  finances  of  the  nation.  The  gov- 
ernment paid  its  bills  with  the  paper,  but  would  accept 
nothing  but  gold  for  its  dues,  with  a  resulting  en- 
hancement in  the  value  of  the  yellow  disks.  The  green- 
backs were  "legal  tender"  by  mandate  among  men, 
but  not  in  the  Treasury  Department. 

Quite  naturally  people  thought  that  when  the  gov- 
ernment got  on  its  feet  financially  the  greenback  should 
be  as  good  as  gold  and  acceptable  for  taxes.  A  test 
before  the  United  States  Supreme  Court  decided  that 

320 


Photograph  by  Cramstorff  Bros.,  Inc. 

WILLIAM   J.    BRYAN 


William  Jennings  Bryan         321 

it  was  not.  As  time  passed  the  greenback  had  been 
steadily  creeping  toward  par,  the  difference  between  it 
and  the  gold  dollar  being  merely  fractional.  This  was 
evidence  to  the  Greenbackers  that  it  was  "good"  and 
they  persisted  in  their  demand  for  more.  It  had  been 
helped  in  value  by  the  retirement  of  some  $200,000,- 
000  which  was  deemed  to  cramp  the  country.  This  was 
true,  for  it  was  growing  and  needed  more  currency, 
not  less,  in  order  to  do  business  in  comfort.  The  hard 
times  of  1873  and  later  were  credited  to  demonitiza- 
tion  of  silver  and  squeezing  the  water  out  the  green- 
backs. They  were  due  instead  to  over-building  of  rail- 
roads and  the  crimping  of  credit  by  scared  capital. 
The  people  however  wanted  the  hair  of  the  dog  that 
had  bitten  them  in  war  time.  Legislation  was  first  put 
through  that  provided  for  a  flood  of  fiat  currency.  The 
steadfast  President,  U.  S.  Grant,  vetoed  it.  Then  there 
sprang  up  a  Greenback  Party  determined  to  head  off 
the  return  of  specie  payments.  This  was  a  disturbing 
factor  for  two  decades,  until  merged  into  Populism  in 
1892,  when  the  vote  for  J.  B.  Weaver,  of  Iowa,  ran 
up  to  a  million,  captured  twenty-two  electoral  votes, 
and  drew  enough  support  from  the  Republicans  to 
place  Grover  Cleveland  in  the  White  House  for  a  sec- 
ond term.  Just  as  the  election  of  James  Buchanan  in 
1856  was  supposed  to  have  stilled  the  fires  of  Anti- 
Slavery,  and  Secession,  so  Cleveland's  triumph  was  ex- 
pected to  put  a  quietus  upon  Populism.  Instead  it  bred 
something  worse. 

The  world's  silver  supply  had  been  suddenly  aug- 
mented in  the  late  sixties  by  a  discovery  of  vast  de- 
posits in  Nevada,  which  such  vigorous  diggers  as  John 


322         William  Jennings  Bryan 

W.  Mackay,  J.  G.  Fair  and  George  Hearst,  developed 
with  much  energy.  It  was  found  that  the  mercantile 
demand  for  the  mineral  could  not  consume  its  output 
and,  following  the  American  custom,  the  government 
was  called  upon  to  assist  in  absorbing  the  surplus.  In 
1878  therefore  Congressman  Richard  P.  Bland  of 
Missouri,  who  had  engaged  in  mining  the  metal,  suc- 
ceeded in  passing  a  bill  through  the  House  calling  for 
the  "free  and  unlimited"  coinage  of  412^/2  grain  sil- 
ver dollars,  or  at  the  rate  of  15.62  to  1,  for  gold.  Any 
person  bringing  metal  to  the  mint  could  have  it  coined 
on  this  ratio.  Senator  William  B.  Allison,  of  Iowa, 
eliminated  "free  and  unlimited"  to  the  disgust  of 
Bland,  and  provided  that  the  government  might  buy 
not  less  than  2,000,000  or  more  than  4,000,000  ounces 
per  month,  but  not  to  exceed  investing  more  than 
$5,000,000,  in  bars.  This  was  only  a  sop  to  silver,  but 
it  passed  by  a  non-party  vote.  Allison  saw  that  in  effect 
the  government  would  be  buying  all  that  was  offered 
at  96  cents  per  ounce  and  soon  go  broke.  Nobody 
wanted  the  cart-wheels  after  currency  was  redeemable 
in  gold,  January  1,  1879,  and  the  mines  stagnated.  At 
the  appeal  of  their  owners  in  1890,  John  Sherman  put 
through  an  act  requiring  the  purchase  of  4,500,000, 
ounces  of  silver  per  month.  There  was  no  demand  for 
it  in  coinage  outside  of  fractional  amounts  and  the 
metal  piled  up  by  the  ton  in  the  Treasury  while  good 
money  went  out  steadily  to  pay  for  silver  at  twice  its 
market  value. 

Some  of  it  was  salvaged  by  the  issuance  of  one  dol- 
lar "silver  certificates,"  which  were  of  course,  paper. 


William  Jennings  Bryan         323 

They  circulated  at  par  and  only  served  to  further  stag- 
nate the  stock  of  bullion  in  the  Treasury. 

When  Mr.  Cleveland  came  into  power  in  1893,  it 
was  discovered  that  the  country's  gold  reserve  had 
well-nigh  disappeared,  no  one  knew  where.  Then  the 
wise  found  that  we  had  been  exchanging  useful  gold 
for  useless  silver  and  that  the  yellow  boys  had  rolled 
away.  Semi-panic  ensued.  The  richest  government  in 
the  world  had  to  sell  $100,000,000  in  bonds  to  restore 
its  gold  reserve.  It  had  previously  sold  $64,000,000 
worth  which  did  not  last  long,  for  the  same  purpose. 

Mr.  Cleveland  set  to  work  and  secured  the  repeal 
of  the  Sherman  Act  to  the  immediate  relief  of  the 
Treasury,  but  to  the  deep  distress  of  the  silver  miners. 
These  now  sought  legislation  that  would  permit  the 
free  coinage  of  silver  at  a  sixteen  to  one  ratio.  That 
is  as  under  Bland's  plan,  producers  of  the  metal  could 
take  it  to  the  mint,  have  it  coined,  and  less  seignorage, 
turn  it  loose  upon  the  country  in  dollars.  The  govern- 
ment would  not  buy  it  in  this  circumstance,  but  the 
people  would.  That  at  least  was  the  theory.  Silver  had 
however  dropped  from  its  high  estate  of  96  cents  per 
ounce  to  46  cents.  The  stamp  of  the  government  had 
held  up  its  lost  value  in  currency  form.  This  would 
vanish  with  free  coinage. 

In  1896  the  silver  miners  set  about  seriously  to 
save  themselves.  They  had  to  capture  an  administra- 
tion. The  Republicans  met  first  at  St.  Louis  where  they 
nominated  William  McKinley,  of  Ohio.  He  had  been 
a  silver  man.  The  American  Bankers'  Association 
through  its  agent  Oscar  E.  Leach,  cashier  of  the  Na- 


324         William  Jennings  Bryan 

tional  Union  Bank  of  New  York,  supplied  Thomas 
C.  Piatt,  the  Republican  boss  of  the  State,  with  funds, 
which  enabled  him  to  secure  the  insertion  of  a  gold 
plank  in  the  platform.  So  the  baffled  silver  men,  under 
the  leadership  of  Marcus  Daly,  head  of  the  Anaconda 
Mine,  turned  their  energies  toward  the  Democracy. 
They  knew  that  parties  did  not  invent  issues,  but  that 
issues  could  capture  parties. 

There  had  come  into  Congress  from  Lincoln,  Ne- 
braska, in  1 89 1,  a  gifted  young  man  named  William 
Jennings  Bryan,  who  speedily  became  known  as  "The 
Boy  Orator  of  the  Platte."  This  he  was  by  adoption 
having  been  born  at  Salem,  Illinois,  March  19,  i860. 
He  graduated  from  Illinois  college  with  high  honors 
in  188 1,  becoming  valedictorian  of  his  class.  Studying 
law,  at  Union  College,  Chicago,  he  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  1883,  and  hung  out  his  shingle  at  Jackson- 
ville, the  old  home  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas. 

The  next  year  he  married  Mary  Elizabeth  Baird,  a 
charming  and  accomplished  fellow-student  and  in  1887 
shifted  his  sign  to  Lincoln.  Here  he  got  on,  and  whence 
he  was  sent  to  Congress  where  he  served  two  terms, 
ending  in  1895.  Toward  the  close  of  his  service  he  be- 
came editor  of  the  Omaha  WorldrHerald.  He  had 
formed  the  habit  of  attending  national  conventions 
covering  a  number  of  them,  and  was  present  at  the 
nomination  of  McKinley,  representing  the  World- 
Herald.  He  had  been  nominated  for  senator  several 
times  in  Nebraska  and  though  but  thirty-six,  knew 
politics  and  how  to  touch  popular  chords.  Of  robust 
and  pleasing  appearance  he  had  a  real  gift  for  oratory, 
sonorous  voice  and  unlimited  endurance.  He  had  the 


Bkvax  to  Wokkisgma 


A     MIGHTY.    RISKY     EXPERIMENT. 
Now.  my  good  man,  I  propose  to  cut  your  dollar  in  two  without  hurting  you  a  particle.' 


BRYAN,    THE    FREE-SILVER    WIZARD 

One  of  the  earliest  cartoons  of  this  later  much-cartooned  candidate,  by   Rogers, 
in  Harper's  Weekly,  August  22,  1896 


William  Jennings  Bryan         325 

face  such  as  people  like  to  note  in  statesmen — a  broad, 
high  brow,  wide  between  the  ears,  a  compelling  eye, 
firm  chin  and  mouth  and  the  sort  of  nose  Napoleon 
Bonaparte  admired.  He  spoke  with  passion  and  could 
be  plainly  heard  on  the  back  seats.  Moreover  he  was 
a  Presbyterian  and  believed  that  God  had  created  man 
in  His  Own  Image.  His  heart  warmed  for  the  people 
and  he  made  their  wrongs  his  own — that  is  to  say  the 
plain  folks  of  the  West.  There  was  no  place  in  his  car- 
diac region  for  the  grasping  capitalist  of  the  East  who 
sold  money  as  a  business  and  had  coagulated  it  into 
what  he  called  a  "trust"  that  sweated  the  dollar  of 
the  agriculturist  until  it  became  thin  as  a  wafer. 

Just  as  Solon  Chase,  of  Maine,  a  famous  Green- 
backer,  had  shouted  for  umore  hog  in  the  dollar"  so 
Mr.  Bryan  wanted  more  dollars  for  the  hog-raisers. 
How  the  undoubtedly  mistreated  farmer  was  to  get 
the  dollars  never  entered  his  calculations. 

As  Sulla,  the  Tyrant,  contemplating  the  young 
Julius  Caesar  "saw  many  a  Marius  in  this  dissolute 
youth,"  so  the  silver  men  perceived  a  possibility  in  the 
eloquent  young  Nebraskan  and  shifted  their  persua- 
sive forces  from  St.  Louis  to  Chicago,  where  the  Dem- 
ocrats were  assembling  to  name  a  successor  for  Mr. 
Cleveland.  A  seat  as  a  delegate  from  Nebraska  had 
been  secured  for  Mr.  Bryan,  and  the  ways  had  been 
carefully  greased  for  launching  him  as  a  candidate. 

Through  fusions  with  the  Populists  in  the  West  the 
convention  was  liberally  stocked  with  Wild  Asses 
Colts.  The  silver  men  had  small  difficulty  in  saddling 
them,  the  hostler  being  this  self-same  Boy  Orator  of 
the  Platte.  Well  surcharged  with  silver,  he  came  laden 


326         William  Jennings  Bryan 

with  a  plank  for  the  platform  that  declared  for  free 
coinage.  Peppered  with  populism  there  had  never  been 
quite  such  a  Democratic  Convention  before.  Fusion 
had  brought  in  so  much  queer  company  that  old  timers 
looked  askant  upon  the  scene  and  wondered  at  the 
outcome.  David  B.  Hill,  of  New  York,  Anti-Cleveland, 
but  sound  in  sense,  sat  gloomily  by  while  the  wild  peo- 
ple worked  their  will.  He  had  come  West  in  the  hope 
of  becoming  the  standard-bearer,  but  could  not  dis- 
cover a  gleam  of  hope,  so  securely  did  the  populists 
and  silverites  control. 

Colonel  Charles  H.  Jones,  editor  of  Joseph  Pulit- 
zer's St.  Louis  Post-Dispatch,  had  brought  a  platform 
already  written,  containing  his  celebrated  "Govern- 
ment by  Injunction"  clause  which  had  caused  his  exile 
from  the  editorial  charge  of  the  New  York  World  to 
Missouri.  He  cheerfully  accepted  Mr.  Bryan's  equally 
ready-made  silver  plank.  When  the  show  began  the 
latter  was  uduly  surprised"  at  being  asked  by  Senator 
John  P.  Jones,  of  Nevada,  to  take  charge  of  present- 
ing the  free  silver  side.  He  had  aspired  to  this  duty, 
but  felt  it  belonged  to  Jones,  and  had  raised  his  eyes 
to  the  chairmanship  of  the  convention,  but  "having 
passed  through  a  circle  of  disappointments  I  found  my- 
self in  the  very  position  for  which  I  had  at  first 
longed."  He  went  to  Jones  after  the  convention  in 
sweet  innocence  to  learn  how  he  had  been  selected  for 
the  honor,  to  find  out  from  that  solemn  wag  that  uhe 
knew  of  the  part  I  had  taken  in  organizing  the  fight." 
He  did  indeed,  having  helped  to  pay  for  it. 

Describing  what  followed  Mr.  Bryan  notes  in  his 
Autobiography:  "I  had  spoken  long  enough  to  know 


William  Jennings  Bryan         327 

that,  comparing  myself  with  myself,  I  was  more  effec- 
tive in  a  brief  speech  in  conclusion  than  a  longer  speech 
that  simply  laid  down  propositions  for  another  to  fol- 
low *  *  *  For  some  reason — I  do  not  now  recall 
what  the  reason  was — the  debate  on  the  platform  was 
put  over  until  the  next  day  and  I  had  time  to  think 
over  my  speech  during  the  night  and  to  arrange  my 
arguments  in  so  far  as  one  can  arrange  arguments  for 
a  closing  speech.  I  fitted  my  definition  of  the  business 
man  at  the  place  that  I  thought  best  and  kept  my 
'cross  of  gold  and  crown  of  thorns'  for  the  conclu- 
sion.'' 

Never,  he  felt,  had  there  been  a  better  setting  for  a 
speech.  The  Republican  Convention  "had  declared  for 
the  maintenance  of  the  gold  standard  only  until  it  was 
possible  to  restore  bi-metallism  by  international  agree- 
ment, and  the  platform  pledged  the  party  to  an  effort 
to  secure  international  bi-metallism." 

Hill,  William  F.  Vilas  of  Wisconsin,  and  Governor 
W.  E.  Russell  of  Massachusetts  had  "provoked"  and 
"irritated"  the  delegates  by  their  stand  for  honest 
money.  These  were  now  ready  for  Bryan.  He  con- 
fesses naively  that  he  "was  prepared  to  answer  in  an 
extemporaneous  speech  the  arguments  which  had  been 
presented — that  is  extemporaneous  so  far  as  its  ar- 
rangement was  concerned." 

Satisfied  with  the  situation  and  himself  he  felt  "as 
composed  as  if  I  had  been  speaking  to  a  small  audi- 
ence on  an  unimportant  occasion.  From  the  first  sen- 
tence the  audience  was  with  me.  My  voice  reached  to 
the  uttermost  parts  of  the  hall,  which  is  a  great  advan- 
tage in  speaking  to  an  audience  like  that." 


328         William  Jennings  Bryan 

There  was  another  advantage — arranged  as  care- 
fully as  his  speech :  "The  audience  acted  like  a  trained 
choir — in  fact  I  thought  of  a  choir  as  I  noted  how  in- 
stantaneously and  in  unison  they  responded  to  each 
point  as  made." 

Thus  it  was  that  what  appeared  like  a  spontaneous 
outburst  on  the  part  of  speaker  and  audience  came  to 
pass.  The  peroration  that  thrilled  had  been  carefully 
rehearsed.  It  came  forth  flaming  in  this  form: 

My  friends,  we  declare  that  this  nation  is  able  to  legislate 
for  its  own  people  on  every  question,  without  waiting  for  the 
aid  or  consent  of  any  other  nation  on  earth;  and  upon  that 
issue  we  expect  to  carry  every  state  in  the  Union.  I  shall  not 
slander  the  fair  state  of  Massachusetts  nor  the  inhabitants  of 
the  State  of  New  York  by  saying,  that,  when  they  are  con- 
fronted with  the  proposition  they  will  declare  that  this  nation 
is  not  able  to  attend  to  its  own  business.  It  is  the  issue  of 
1776  over  again.  Our  ancestors  who  were  but  three  million 
in  number,  had  the  courage  to  declare  their  political  inde- 
pendence of  every  other  nation;  shall  we,  their  descendants, 
when  we  have  grown  to  seventy  millions,  declare  we  are  less 
independent  than  our  forefathers?  No,  my  friends,  that  will 
never  be  the  verdict  of  the  people.  Therefore  we  care  not  upon 
what  field  the  battle  is  fought.  If  they  say  bi-metallism  is  good, 
but  that  we  cannot  have  it  until  other  nations  help  us,  we 
reply  that,  instead  of  having  a  gold  standard  because  England 
has,  we  will  restore  bi-metallism,  and  then  let  England  have 
bi-metallism  because  the  United  States  has  it.  If  they  decide 
to  come  out  into  the  open  field  and  defend  the  gold  standard 
as  a  good  thing,  we  will  fight  them  to  the  uttermost.  Having 
behind  us  the  producing  masses  of  this  nation  and  the  world, 
supported  by  common  interests,  the  laboring  interests,  and  the 
toilers  everywhere,  we  will  answer  their  demand  for  a  gold 


William  Jennings  Bryan         329 

standard  by  saying  to  them:  "You  shall  not  press  down  upon 
the  brow  of  labor  this  crown  of  thorns,  you  shall  not  crucify 
mankind  upon  a  cross  of  gold !" 

Hardly  up  to  "Give  me  liberty  or  give  me  death" 
but  it  produced  a  prodigious  furore.  Men  tore  banners 
from  the  walls  and  waved  them  in  furious  excitement. 
The  applause  thundered  in  hurricanes.  When  the  con- 
vention had  accepted  the  platform,  with  a  final  howl 
it  adjourned  to  nominate  on  the  next  day.  J.  P.  Bland, 
the  original  silver  man  received  235  votes  on  the 
first  ballot,  Bryan  119,  Governor  Robert  E.  Pattison, 
of  Pennsylvania,  95,  J.  S.  C.  Blackburn,  of  Kentucky 
83,  Governor  Horace  Boies  of  Iowa,  85.  The  rest  of 
the  delegates  scattered.  Out  of  the  total  178  did  not 
vote  at  all.  They  saved  themselves  by  arrangement,  for 
Bryan.  When  the  fifth  ballot  was  announced  he  had 
500  votes  and  needed  512.  These  were  given  him  at 
once  by  changes.  Arthur  Sewell,  a  rich  ship  builder,  of 
Bath,  Maine,  was  named  for  Vice-President.  Then 
the  delegates  went  home. 

Bryan  took  the  stump  and  made  a  wonderful  can- 
vass. He  stirred  and  scared  the  country.  Money  bags 
grew  weak  in  the  knees  at  his  exuberant  progress. 
Enormous  crowds  heard  and  acclaimed  him  every- 
where. Business  men  were  in  a  near  panic,  artfully  en- 
couraged by  Marcus  A.  Hanna,  of  Cleveland,  who  had 
brought  about  the  nomination  of  McKinley.  Thomas 
C.  Piatt  collected  great  funds  in  New  York.  All  over 
the  country  men  of  money  contributed  heavily  to  save 
the  gold  standard  and  the  Republican  Party  so  lately 
converted  to  its  merits.  In  addition  a  Democratic  bolt 
was  contrived,  the  venerable  John  M.  Palmer,  of  II- 


330  William  Jennings  Bryan 

linois,  being  placed  at  its  head  and  General  Simon  Bol- 
ivar Buckner,  of  Kentucky  on  the  tail.  The  Populists 
put  Thomas  E.  Watson  of  Georgia,  in  the  field. 

No  newspaper  of  much  account  except  the  St.  Louis 
Post-Dispatch  which  Mr.  Pulitzer  could  not  control 
under  his  contract  with  Colonel  Jones,  supported 
Bryan.  Mr.  Pulitzer's  New  York  World  was  espe- 
cially vigorous  in  the  negative.  Bryan  travelled  18,000 
miles  making  unnumbered  speeches,  but  was  beaten 
with  176  electoral  votes  to  271  for  McKinley.  On  the 
popular  vote  McKinley  polled  7,104,779,  Bryan 
6,502,925,  a  Republican  lead  of  601,854.  This  looks 
like  a  large  margin,  yet  in  the  balancing  of  the  electors, 
a  change  of  25,000  ballots,  properly  distributed,  would 
have  carried  the  college  and  elected  Bryan. 

The  country  rejoiced  in  the  victory  and  thought 
itself  safe  from  silver.  It  was,  but  not  from  Bryan.  He 
kept  in  the  field.  When  the  needless  Spanish  War  was 
unloaded  on  the  Administration,  Mr.  Bryan  straight- 
way offered  his  services  to  President  McKinley,  who 
was  not  polite  enough  to  reply.  So  Mr.  Bryan  enlisted 
as  a  private  in  a  militia  company  at  Lincoln,  pending  a 
hope  that  he  might  get  on  Major-General  Joseph 
Wheeler's  staff,  which  was  not  possible  while  uncom- 
missioned and  without  military  experience.  Accord- 
ingly Governor  Silas  A.  Holcomb,  of  Nebraska,  au- 
thorized him  to  raise  a  regiment  which  he  did,  riding 
at  its  head  as  Colonel.  He  looked  well  in  a  uniform  but 
had  not  the  luck  of  Theodore  Roosevelt  to  reach  Cuba. 
His  command  was  kept  Hve  months  in  Florida.  No 
Democratic  military  records  were  desired  while  those 
of  Republicans  were  so  thin. 


William  Jennings  Bryan  331 

Bryan  resigned  the  day  peace  was  declared  and  went 
back  to  Nebraska.  He  did  not  subside,  however,  but 
picked  up  imperialism  as  an  issue,  growing  out  of 
America's  acquisition  of  Porto  Rico  and  the  Philip- 
pines. This  he  made  his  shibboleth,  much  encouraged 
by  Joseph  Pulitzer  who  was  glad  to  get  back  into  Dem- 
ocratic company,  though  the  World  would  not  swallow 
Bryan  and  silver.  When  the  Democrats  met  at  Kansas 
City  July  5,  1900,  Mr.  Bryan  did  not  for  once  attend. 
His  friend  R.  L.  Metcalfe  of  the  World-Herald  was 
among  those  present,  however,  at  the  head  of  the  dele- 
gation and  attended  to  his  nomination  which  came  by 
acclamation.  Imperialism  was  made  the  battle  cry,  and 
an  effort  to  drop  silver  caused  some  choking,  Bryan 
insisting  that  the  Chicago  silver  plank  be  reaffirmed. 
This  was  done  but  it  made  small  stir  in  the  campaign. 
Colonel  Jones  again  indited  the  platform,  still  holding 
Mr.  Pulitzer  in  defiance.  Adlai  E.  Stephenson,  the 
axe-wielder  in  Mr.  Cleveland's  administration  was  se- 
lected as  vice-president.  Defeat  was  their  portion.  This 
time  Bryan  had  155  electoral  votes  to  292  for  the  re- 
nominated McKinley,  whose  popular  majority  was 
849,790. 

He  took  himself  out  of  the  race  in  1904,  when  at  St. 
Louis  William  Randolph  Hearst,  of  California  and 
New  York,  came  close  to  capturing  the  nomination, 
but  was  defeated  by  Judge  Alton  B.  Parker,  head  of 
the  New  York  Court  of  Appeals.  Mr.  Bryan  attended 
and  sought  to  keep  silver  in  the  platform.  He  did  not 
succeed,  but  wrote  much  of  the  rest  of  it.  David  B. 
Hill  ran  the  show  and  put  over  Parker,  who  came  out 
for  gold.  The  Judge  was  a  comely  man  but  not  na- 


332  William  Jennings  Bryan 

tionally  known.  Mr.  Pulitzer  had  recaptured  the  Post- 
Dispatch  from  Colonel  Jones  and  it,  together  with  the 
New  York  World  rejoiced  in  the  "Passing  of  Bryan." 
He  did  not  go  very  far  away,  having  in  1900  estab- 
lished the  weekly  Commoner,  at  Lincoln,  v/hich  had 
100,000  circulation,  out  of  which  he  made  money  and 
through  which  he  was  heard  from.  Parker  was  badly 
beaten  by  the  redoubtable  Theodore  Roosevelt,  the 
electoral  vote  standing  336  to  140,  with  a  popular  ma- 
jority of  2,545,515. 

Saying  "I  told  you  so'1  Bryan  fixed  his  fences  for 
1908  when  William  H.  Taft  received  the  Republican 
nomination  by  inheritance  from  his  predecessor,  whose 
war  secretary  he  had  been,  in  the  expectation  that  he 
would  give  it  back  at  the  end  of  four  years.  This  time 
the  World  and  Post-Dispatch  accepted  Bryan,  but  he 
was  again  defeated,  the  electoral  vote  standing  321  to 
172,  and  abandoned  Presidential  ambition  thereafter, 
to  become  a  star  on  the  Chautauqua  circuit  taking 
"The  Prince  of  Peace"  as  his  chief  topic.  He  was  very 
popular  and  succeeded  in  this  field.  He  did  not,  how- 
ever, forego  his  habit  of  attending  conventions,  being 
present  at  the  19 12  Republican  and  Bull  Moose  gath- 
erings at  Chicago,  as  reporter  for  a  newspaper  syndi- 
cate. The  split  made  the  Democratic  nomination  a 
prize-package.  Mr.  Bryan  attended  the  Democratic 
convention  at  Baltimore  in  the  dual  capacity  of  corre- 
spondent and  delegate  from  Nebraska,  instructed  to 
vote  for  Champ  Clark,  of  Missouri,  Speaker  of  the 
House.  Clark  was  popular  in  the  West  and  South. 
Colonel  E.  M.  House,  J.  P.  McCombs  and  William  G. 
McAdoo  had  put  themselves  behind  Woodrow  Wil- 


William  Jennings  Bryan         333 

son.  There  was  a  stiff  contest.  Bryan  voted  for  Clark 
so  long  as  the  New  York  delegation  was  against  him. 
When  Charles  F.  Murphy,  the  Tammany  Boss  or- 
dered them  to  support  Clark  on  the  tenth  ballot,  Mr. 
Bryan  turned  to  Wilson  on  a  resolution  to  the  effect 
that  no  Morgan-Ryan-Belmont-Tammany  combination 
could  be  permitted  to  put  a  President  in  the  White 
House.  He  stuck  to  Wilson  until  he  won  out. 

Whether  because  of  gratitude  or  pre-arrangement 
through  Wilson's  clever  management,  when  victory 
followed  the  Republican  dissensions,  the  new  Presi- 
dent named  Mr.  Bryan  Secretary  of  State.  This  he  ac- 
cepted. The  place  was  not  pleasant,  the  self-centered 
Wilson  regarding  his  cabinet  members  rather  as  ap- 
pendages to  him  than  as  factors  of  his  administration. 
Mr.  Bryan  frequently  found  himself  wandering  in  the 
dark  with  a  hostile  press  ever  striving  to  make  him 
appear  ridiculous.  The  Austrian  Ambassador  Dumba 
made  a  statement  public  credited  to  Bryan  that  the 
American  protest  on  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania  was 
not  to  be  considered  seriously.  The  Secretary,  replying 
to  Dumba's  query  as  to  why  the  Lusitania  incident  had 
any  different  aspect  than  the  holding  up  of  our  ships 
bound  for  Hamburgh  and  Kiel,  had  answered  that  tak- 
ing lives  and  merchandise  were  different  things.  So 
thoroughly  misrepresented  was  Mr.  Bryan,  and  kept 
so  much  in  ignorance  by  Mr.  Wilson  that  he  found 
himself  ineffective  in  the  European  situation  developed 
by  the  war.  The  President  was  running  diplomacy  him- 
self with  Colonel  E.  M.  House  as  his  confidential 
agent.  Walter  H.  Page,  ambassador  to  Great  Britain 
was  operating  on  a  line  of  his  own  quite  apart  from 


334  William  Jennings  Bryan 

Wilson  and  Bryan.  Between  criticism  and  confusion 
Mr.  Bryan  gave  it  up.  He  resigned  on  June  8,  19 15. 
Mr.  Wilson  accepted  "with  a  feeling  of  personal  sor- 
row," adding,  "our  two  years  of  association  have  been 
delightful  to  me."  The  immediate  cause  of  his  quit- 
ting was  because  he  declined  to  sign  the  second  impo- 
tent note  to  Germany.  Its  Foreign  Office  had  suggested 
arbitration.  This  Bryan  thought  should  have  been  con- 
sidered. Instead  the  situation  was  left  in  the  air  to 
come  down  in  armed  conflict.  Robert  Lansing  took  his 
place  in  the  cabinet,  to  be  kicked  out  more  ignomin- 
iously  than  any  man  who  had  ever  held  high  office  in 
the  United  States.  Even  Jackson  sent  his  ministers  into 
retirement  politely. 

In  1924  Mr.  Bryan  attended  his  last  convention, 
this  time  as  a  delegate  from  Florida,  where  he  had  be- 
come a  citizen.  He  was  again  in  "the  enemy's  coun- 
try" as  he  had  called  it  in  1896.  The  freshness  had 
gone  from  his  voice  and  his  eye  had  lost  its  command. 
The  following  behind  Governor  Alfred  E.  Smith  of 
New  York,  wanted  to  push  through  an  Anti-Klan  reso- 
lution. Mr.  Bryan  did  not  object  to  a  declaration 
against  intolerance  but  he  did  oppose  mentioning  the 
Klan  by  name.  On  a  close  vote  he  had  his  way. 

Also,  his  brother  Charles  W.  was  nominated  for 
Vice-President.  This  was  the  end  of  Mr.  Bryan's  re- 
markable career  in  American  politics. 

He  had  held  the  record  for  attempts  at  gaining  the 
Chief  Magistracy:  three  times  before  the  people,  to 
be  as  many  times  rejected.  Yet  he  had  not  failed  as  a 
man  of  mark.  For  one  thing  the  despised  dollar  of  our 
daddies  became  worth  more  than  a  hundred  cents  dur- 


William  Jennings  Bryan  335 

ing  the  war  period.  After  the  World  War  the  Nations 
exerted  themselves  to  establish  some  form  of  eternal 
peace  on  earth  and  good-will  among  men,  which  had 
replaced  sixteen  to  one  in  Mr.  Bryan's  vocabulary. 
This  under  way,  he  took  on  the  engineering  of  nation- 
wide prohibition.  Nothing  looked  less  possible.  The 
National  Prohibition  Party  had  never  done  better  than 
300,000  or  so  at  the  polls  and  was  a  political  joke,  just 
as  the  abolition  party  was  before  it,  which  could  never 
register  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  million  followers. 
But  abolition  prevailed  through  blood,  and  prohibition 
carried  in  the  emotional  aftermath  of  war. 

Mr.  Bryan  became  financially  interested  in  Florida. 
He  had  shifted  his  residence  from  Lincoln  to  Miami, 
after  his  retirement  from  the  Department  of  State,  es- 
tablishing himself  in  a  pleasant  home  that  he  called 
Villa  Serena.  He  became  an  appanage  of  the  boom, 
establishing  a  Bible  Class  that  soon  became  too  big  for 
the  Presbyterian  Church  and  had  to  move  outdoors, 
locating  in  a  park  on  the  shore  of  Biscayne  Bay.  Here 
five  thousand  people  would  gather  each  Sunday  to  hear 
him  expound  the  lesson.  Between  times  he  did  some 
talking  for  Florida  in  the  interest  of  the  real  estate  ex- 
ploitation. The  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
sent  him  across  the  continent  through  Canada,  to  or- 
ganize new  bodies  in  its  name.  He  was  very  successful 
at  this.  Never  familiar,  he  had  a  warm  hand  when 
grasped  and  an  imposing  personality,  while  his  speech, 
if  not  profound  was  fervid  and  his  appeals  stirred  up 
the  good  in  men.  He  could  not  rouse  "the  boys"  or  the 
pot-house  politicians  but  he  certainly  united  the  god- 
fearing. 


336         William  Jennings  Bryan 

Religion  crowded  his  closing  years.  He  was  unceas- 
ing in  his  exertions  and  kept  as  busy  as  a  Prince  of 
Wales,  laying  corner  stones,  dedicating  churches  and 
aiding  drives  for  raising  funds.  To  this  he  gave  time 
and  strength  without  stint,  to  the  exhaustion  of  the 
latter.  His  splendid  physique  seemed  equal  to  any 
strain,  but  as  the  event  proved  it  was  not. 

The  State  of  Tennessee  put  a  law  on  its  statute 
books  forbidding  the  teaching  of  evolution  in 
public  schools.  Some  ingenious  young  gentleman  in  the 
modest  town  of  Dayton  conceived  the  brilliant  idea  of 
putting  the  place  on  the  map  by  the  device  of  testing 
the  act.  John  J.  Scopes,  a  teacher  in  the  public  school 
was  therefore  taken  to  account  for  explaining  Darwin 
to  his  class  in  biology.  Hicks  and  Hicks,  hitherto  un- 
heard-of counsellors  at  law,  undertook  the  prosecution 
in  May,  1925.  With  the  consent  of  the  County  Judge 
and  the  Attorney  General  they  invited  Mr.  Bryan  to 
take  part  in  the  case  on  the  side  of  the  law.  The  ques- 
tion at  issue  was  wholly  legal,  but  it  was  made  to  take 
on  an  aspect  of  bigotry.  Of  course  Mr.  Bryan's  partici* 
pation  gave  it  nation-wide  interest,  though  as  Mrs. 
Bryan  sensibly  observes  in  writing  of  her  husband: 
"The  truth  or  lack  of  truth  in  the  theory  of  evolution 
were  out  of  place.,,  She  evidently  disapproved  of  the 
fuss.  The  press  and  public,  however,  did  not  hold  this 
view.  Neither  did  Mr.  Bryan. 

The  bones  of  Darwin  were  well  rattled  during  the 
course  of  the  trial  while  Mr.  Bryan  was  placed  in  a 
class  with  the  Inquisitors  of  the  Holy  Office.  Times 
were  dull — it  was  summer — and  the  trial  received  vast 
space  in  the  newspapers.  Dayton  was  suffocatingly  hot; 


William  Jennings  Bryan         337 

jammed  with  correspondents  and  the  curious.  Mr. 
Bryan  worked  unceasingly,  giving  neither  his  mind  or 
body  rest.  He  was  the  whole  show.  Clarence  A.  Dar- 
row,  defendant's  counsel,  figured  small.  Scopes  was 
found  guilty,  while  Mr.  Bryan  was  hailed  as  the  "De- 
fender of  the  Faith." 

But  the  trial  had  told  on  him.  He  consulted  a  doc- 
tor, who  found  his  blood  pressure  normal,  heart  action 
good  and  his  general  condition  satisfactory.  The  day 
after  this  verdict,  he  retired  as  usual  to  take  his  after- 
noon nap.  Mrs.  Bryan  sent  up  to  awaken  him.  The 
messenger  came  back  to  report  that  he  was  sleeping 
so  peacefully  it  seemed  a  pity  to  rouse  him.  Mrs. 
Bryan  was  herself  invalided,  confined  to  a  wheel 
chair.  She  felt  uneasy  and  again  sent  the  man  up  to 
raise  the  windows  and  see  if  Mr.  Bryan  was  really 
asleep.  He  came  back  reporting:  "Something  is  wrong. 
I  cannot  wake  him."  Indeed  something  was  wrong. 
The  Prince  of  Peace  was  dead.  This  was  July  26,  1925. 

As  an  echo  of  his  five  months  with  the  Nebraska 
regiment  in  Florida,  he  had  desired  to  be  buried  in  the 
American  Valhalla  at  Arlington.  This  was  done.  So 
the  Prince  of  Peace  sleeps  on  a  field  of  Mars.  Incon- 
sistencies never  bothered  him.  Why  quarrel  with  this? 

It  is  difficult  to  sum  him  up.  He  was  a  born  exhorter 
and  evangelist  both  in  and  out  of  politics.  The  latter 
is  usually  deemed  the  delight  of  the  unregenerate.  Mr. 
Bryan  made  politics  pious.  He  was  a  good  man  in  the 
trite  sense.  Right  living  had  been  his  habit  from  the 
beginning.  He  was  thrifty  and  left  a  fortune  estimated 
at  $750,000,  made  partly  by  the  rise  in  Florida  real 
estate,  the  rest  earned  on  the  platform.  Few  men  got 


338         William  Jennings  Bryan 

close  up  to  him,  but  those  who  came  into  considerable 
contact  liked  him.  Grim  old  E.  W.  Howe  of  Atchison, 
Kansas,  came  to  hold  him  in  high  regard  as  they  fore- 
gathered at  Miami.  Joseph  A.  Altsheler,  the  World 
correspondent  who  accompanied  him  during  the  stren- 
uous 1896  campaign  liked  him  much  and  wrote  a  novel 
The  Candidate  depicting  his  traits.  He  had  always 
to  be  serving  something.  That  is  a  characteristic  of  the 
evangel. 

Were  his  accomplishments  beneficial  to  any  but  him- 
self? The  negative  would  be  a  fair  reply.  His  silver 
fallacy  gave  rise  to  political  and  economic  confusion  on 
a  large  scale.  More  than  this  his  aimless  persistence  in 
politics  destroyed  opposition  in  the  United  States.  The 
strenuous  Roosevelt  could  always  outdo  him.  To  com- 
pete was  to  become  absurd.  That  Bryan  never  was. 
The  party  of  Jefferson  lost  force  and  purpose  under 
his  demoralizing  domination.  It  did  not  want  him, 
but  he  wanted  it  and  had  it  to  his  fill.  The  party  has 
never  rallied  from  the  effects  of  Bryanism.  The  coun- 
try has  yet  to  create  an  intelligent  and  effective  compe- 
tition with  the  Republican  Party.  Roosevelt  made  the 
Republicans  ineffective  against  Wilson.  Wilson  left  his 
party  on  the  rocks.  Bryan  would  have  kept  out  of  the 
war  at  all  hazards.  He  believed  in  his  principles  so 
long  as  they  interested  him.  But  he  was  never  a  Jeffer- 
sonian  or  a  Jacksonian.  He  was  William  Jennings 
Bryan,  Traveller  upon  Tides. 


INDEX 


Abert,  Lt.  J.  W.,   149. 
Abolitionists,    69,    104,    106,    119, 

210,    228. 
"A.  B."  plot,  45,  46. 
Abbett,    Leon,    261. 
Abbeville,   S.   C,   54. 
Adams,  Charles  Francis,  250,  251. 
Adams,  John,  xii,  n,  12,  42. 
Adams,  John  Quincy,  iii,  48,  49, 

50,   51,    52,   53,   57,    58,    60,   77, 

78,  80,  81,  83,  250. 
Adair,  Gen.  John,  32,  79. 
Africa,  80. 
Aiken,  S.  C,  157. 
Alabama,  State  of,  34,  83,  85. 
Alabama,    C.S.S.,    132. 
Alaska  Purchase,  206. 
Albany,    N.    Y.,    5,    8,    128,    232, 

243,    258. 
Albert,   Prince   Consort,    143. 
Alexandria,  Va.,  221. 
Allen,  William,  261. 
Allen,  William  F.,  247. 
Alston,  Gov.  Joseph,  19,  39. 
Alston,  Theodosia  Burr,  28,   36. 
Alton,    111.,    182. 
Altsheler,   Joseph  A.,   338. 
Amesbury,  Mass.,  119. 
America,    143,    144. 
Americans,    126,    147,    150,    155, 

156. 
American     Colonization     Society, 

80. 
American  People,  142,  175. 
America,  Yacht,  318. 
Amherst,  N.  H.,  244. 
Anderson,  Gen.  Robert,  138,  274. 


Anderson,  Richard   Clark,  81. 
Andersonville  Prison,  288. 
Andrew,  Gov.  John  A.,   311. 
Annapolis,   Md.,   308. 
Antietam,  Battle  of,  222,  274. 
Anti-Grant  Republicans,   249. 
Anti-Jacksonians,    84. 
Anti-Masonic,    84,    192,    193. 
Anti-Renters,   N.  Y.,   268. 
Anti-Slavery,  106. 
Arizona,    149,    166. 
Arkansas,  State  of,  164,  172. 
Arkansas  River,  148,  149. 
Arlington,    337. 
Armitage,  Dr.  T.  A.,  253. 
Army  of  the  James,  299. 
Army  of  the   Potomac,   221,   223, 

226,    316. 
Army  of  the  Shenandoah,  277. 
Arnold,    Benedict,    119. 
Arnolds,  English,  168. 
Aroostook  War,  130. 
Arthur,  Chester  Alan,  xviii,  289, 

291. 
Ashburton,  Lord,   116. 
Ashburton  Treaty,  104. 
Ashland,  88,  89. 
Ashmun,    George,   200. 
Associated  Press,  263. 
Atlantic  and  Pacific  Union  R.  R., 

284. 
Atlas,    Boston,    119. 
Attorney  General,  108. 
Austria,  104. 


Baird,  Col.  Andrew  D.,  213. 
Baird,  Mary  Elizabeth,  324. 
Baker,  E.  D.,  121,  217. 


339 


340 


Index 


Balmaceda,  296. 

Baltimore,  Md.,   32,   83,   101,   105, 

i2i,   186,   308. 
Bank    of    the    Manhattan    Com- 
pany,   12. 
Bank   of  the   United    States,  xiii, 

55,  81,  83,  85,  100. 
Banks,  Gen.  N.  P.,  314. 
Baptists,  73. 
Bar  Harbor,  Me.,  296. 
Barn  Burners,  196. 
Barron,  Commodore  S.  C,  310. 
Bates,  Edward,  200. 
Baton    Rouge,    23. 
Bayard,  Thomas  F.,  236,  262,  264, 

271. 
Bayou  Pierre,  33. 
Beecher,   Henry  Ward,  252,  253. 
Bear  Flag,  152. 
Bear  Party,  153,  154. 
Belden,  James  J.,  258. 
Belshazzar   Feast,   293. 
Bell,   John,    91,    187. 
Bellamy,  Rev.  Edward,  3. 
Benjamin,  Judah  P.,  314. 
Bennett,  James  Gordon,  135,  136, 

248. 
Bennington,  Vt.,  in. 
Benton,  Jesse,   144. 
Benton,  Jessie,    146. 
Benton,    Thomas    H.,    41,    63,    66, 

72,   81,   82,   85,   86,   93,   94,   144, 

146,  148,  153,  159,  162. 
Bent's   Fort,   148,   149,   158. 
Bermuda  Hundreds,  315. 
Berrien,  John  M.,  64,  91. 
Beveridge,  A.  J.,  167. 
Bethlehem,  Conn.,  4. 
Bible  Class,  Bryan's,  335. 
Big  Bethel,  Battle  of,  309. 
Bigelow,  John,  139,  142,  143,  199, 

204,  205,  255,  256,  264,  268,  313. 
Birney,  J.  C,  104. 
Black,  Jeremiah  S.,  108,  138,  264, 

285. 
Black  Point,  Cal.,  165. 


Blackstone,  302. 

Bland,  Richard  P.,  321. 

Blaine,   James   G.,   236,   238,   239, 

240,  258,  260,  262,  282,  283,  284, 

285,  286,  287,  288,  289,  290,  291, 

292,  293,  294,  295. 
Blair,  Frank  P.,  61,  163,  200,  226, 

239. 
Blair,  Montgomery,  165,  200,  226, 

247,  264. 
Blatchford,  R.  M.,  204. 
Blennerhassett,  Harman,  21. 
Blenerhassett,   Mrs.  Harman,   33. 
Blennerhassett's  Island,   33,   99. 
Blifill  and  Black  George,  81. 
Bloomingdale  Asylum,  253. 
Blue  Ridge,  211. 
Bocock,  Thomas  S.,  236. 
Bollman,  Dr.  Eric,  28,  32. 
Bonaparte,    19. 
Boscawen,  N.  H.,  in,  112. 
Boston,  Mass.,  112,  115. 
Boston    Courier,    201. 
Booth,  John  Wilkes,  205,  247. 
Botts,  John  Minor,  122. 
Bowles,    Samuel,   249,   250. 
Bradley,  Joseph  P.,  264,  265. 
Brandon,  Vt.,  168. 
Breckinridge,  John  C,  187,  306. 
Bridger,   Fort,  273. 
Bridger,   James,    146. 
Bridgewater,    128. 
Bright,   Jesse   D.,   91. 
Bristow,  Benj.  H.,  286,  288. 
Britain,   Great,  xx,   127,   172. 
British,   116,   128,   160. 
British   Gold,   294. 
British  Empire,  2. 
British  Minister,  107. 
British   Parliament,    313. 
British  Troops,  5,  7,  8. 
Bronson,   Greene   C,   229. 
Brooklyn,  U.S.S.,  139. 
Brown,   B.   Gratz,   249,   250,  251, 
252. 


Index 


341 


Brown,  Commodore,  154. 

Brown,  John,  188,  308. 

Bruff,   Major,   23. 

Bruce,   Sir   Frederick,   207. 

Bryan,  William  Jennings,  x,  xxi, 
320,  324,  325,  326,  327,  329,  330, 
S3*,  332,  333,  334,  335,  336,  337, 
338. 

Bryan,    Mrs.    William    Jennings, 

324,  336,  337- 
Bryant,  William  Cullen,  199,  249, 

250,  251,  256,  264. 
Buchanan,  James,  xv,  70,  71,  101, 

105,  106,  108,  109,  138,  139,  162, 

176,   178,   181,  183,   188,  271. 
Buckner,  Gen.  S.  B.,  211,  329. 
Buena  Vista,  90. 
Buffalo,  xiv,  99. 
Bull  Run,  Battle  of,  141,  211,  247, 

310,  311. 
Bunker  Hill,   112. 
Burchard,  Rev.  S.  D.,  293. 
Burgoyne,  Gen.  John,  in. 
Burling,  Walter,  35. 
Burnside,    Gen.   A.    E.,    222,   223, 

272,  275. 

Burr,  Aaron,  1,  2,  4,  5,  6,  7,  8,  9, 
10,  n,  12,  13,  14,  15,  16,  17,  18, 
19,  20,  21,  22,  23,  24,  25,  26,  27, 
28,  29,  30,  31,  32,  33,  34,  35,  36, 
37,   38,   39,  93,  99,   128,   129. 

Burr,  Rev.  Aaron,  1. 

Burr,   Mrs.   Theodosia,    7,    10. 

Burr,  Theodosia,  10,  18,  19. 

Butler,  Benjamin  F.,  186,  248,  249, 
266,  298,  299,  300,  301,  302,  303, 
304,  305,  306,  307,  308,  309,  310, 

311,  312,  313,  314,  315,  316,  317, 
318. 

Butler,  John,  299. 
Butler,  Gen.  W.  O.,  102. 
Buttes  of  Sacramento,   152. 


Caldwell,  Josiah,  285. 

Calhoun,  John  C,  42,  43,  53,  54, 


55,  56,  57,  58,  59,  60,  61,  62,  63, 
64,  65,  66,  67,  68,  69,  70,  71, 
72,  73,  74,  75,  76,  83,  85,  89,  90, 
92,  100,  101,  112,  118,  120,  133, 
169,   172,   195,  268. 

Calhoun,  Patrick,   54. 

California,  xiv,  79,  106,  147,  148, 
153,  154,  156,  157,  159,  160,  161, 
166,  170,  171,  172,  173,  184,  194, 
240,  271. 

Cambridge,  Mass.,  168. 

Cameron,  Senior,  141,  200,  308, 
309,  311. 

Campbell,  John  A.,  264. 

Campbell,  Timothy,  xxi,  296. 

Canada,   99. 

Canadian   Border,    127. 

Canandaigua,  N.  Y.,  168. 

Cape  Fear  River,  316. 

Carey,  Major  E.  L.,  309. 

Carlyle,  Thomas,  317. 

Carolinians,    108. 

Carpenter,   Matt.  H.,  264,  285. 

Carson,  Kit,  146,  150,  153,  155, 
158,  159. 

Carvalho,  S.  N.,  161. 

Carvalho,  S.  S.,  161. 

Castro,  Gen.  Jose,  150,  151,  152, 

153,  155- 
Catholics,   303. 
Cass,  John,  98. 
Cass,   Lewis,    91,    95,    96,   97,   98, 

99,  100,  101,  102,  103,  104,  105, 

106,  107,  108,  109,  194,  195. 
Castle    Garden,    135. 
Caucus,  King,  38,  48. 
Chancellorsville,    Battle    of,    275, 

276. 
Chandler,    Zachariah,    xvii,    248, 

262,  268,  295. 
Chappaqua,  N.  Y.,  252,  253. 
Chapultepec,   66,   126. 
Charles  the  First,  xix. 
Charleston,    S.   C,   xiii,    108,    117, 

130,  144,  157,  170,  185,  187,  203, 

298. 


342 


Index 


Charleston  Bar,  139. 

Charleston  College,   145. 

Charleston  Convention,  230. 

Charleston  Committee,  138. 

Charles  V,  204. 

Chapin,  Dr.  E.  H.,  253. 

Chase,  Mr.  Justice,  18. 

Chase,  Salmon  P.,  xvi,  139,  195, 
200,  205,  213,  237,  239,  253. 

Cherokees,  43,  83,  84,  145. 

Chesapeake    Bay,    126. 

Chesapeake,   U.S.S.,   127. 

Chicago,    174,   186,   189,  257,  270. 

Childs,  George  W.,  161,  166. 

Chile,  296. 

Chillicothe,  O.,  212. 

Chippewa,  128. 

Choate,  Dr.  G.  S.,  253. 

Choate,  Rufus,  121,  122. 

Church  of  the  Divine  Paternity, 
253. 

Church,  Sanford  E.,  238. 

Churubusco,  209,  273. 

Cincinnati,  O.,  249,  271,  286. 

Cincinnati,  Order  of  the,  16. 

City   Hotel,    Nashville,    144. 

Civil  War,  xv. 

Clark,  Daniel,  22,  23,  24,  27. 

Clark,   James    Freeman,   292. 

Clark,  John  C,  47. 

Clark,  Myron  H.,  229. 

Clarkites,  45,  47. 

Claiborne,  W.  C.  C,  20,  22. 

Clay,  Henry,  49,  50,  53,  56,  65,  67, 
68,  69,  70,  71,  72,  77,  78,  79,  80, 
81,  82,  83,  84,  85,  86,  87,  88,  89, 
90,  91,  92,  93,  94,  112,  113,  117, 
118,  121,  122,  123,  124,  126,  127, 
169,  173,  181,  194,  195,  242, 
245,  268. 

Clay,  Henry  Jr.,  90. 

(Clay,  Rev.  John,  79. 

Clayton-Bulwer  Treaty,   121. 

Clayton,  John  M.,  67,   121. 

Cleveland,  Grover,  xix,  xx,  267, 
292,  293,  294,  295,  296,  318. 


Cleveland,   O.,   135. 
Clifford,  Nathan,  264. 
Clinton,  De  Witt,  58. 
Clinton,  George,  9,  13. 
Clio-Sophie  Society,  3. 
Cobb,   Howell,    108. 
Cobb,  Joseph  B.,  44,  50. 
Colby  University,  300. 
Cold  Harbor,  battle  of,  224. 
Colfax,    Schuyler,    164,    202,    251, 

253- 
Collingwood,  H.M.S.,  154. 
Colton,   Rev.  Walter,    155. 
Colorado,   147,   149. 
Columbia  River,  466. 
Committee    on    Foreign    Affairs, 

249. 
Committee  on  Territories,   174. 
Communism,  245. 
Concord,  Mass.,  4. 
Confederates,   211,  234,  283,  310. 
Confederate    Congress,   236. 
Confederacy,  Southern,  141,  218. 
Confederate    Currency,   313. 
Congress,    U.    S.,    107,    112,    117, 

128,    137,    140,    163,    169,    174, 

176,    178,    179,    182,    185,    246, 

257,  258,  271,  283. 
Congress,  U.S.S.,  154. 
Conkling,  Roscoe,  xvii,  xviii,  249, 

270,  282,  288,  289. 
Connecticut,  84,  295. 
Consul,   U.  S-,  150. 
Conquistadores,    132. 
Constitution,  U.  S.,  134,  168,  172, 

173,   174,   181,   184. 
Contrabands,  310. 
Contreras,  209. 

Commissioners  to  Ghent,   77,   80. 
Commissioner  of  Pensions,  294. 
Coolidge,  Calvin,  xxiii. 
Cooper,  Charles  D.,  14. 
Cooper,  James,  91. 
Copperheads,  231,  234,  271. 
Cotton  Gin,  131. 
Council  Bluffs,  la.,   174. 


Index 


343 


Count   de   Paris,    219. 
Cortez,    Hernando,    204. 
Corwin,   Thomas,   96,    195. 
Costentenus,    George,   293. 
Courier  and  Enquirer,  New  York, 

193. 
Cowie,  killed,   182. 
Cox,  Jacob  D.,  251. 
Cox,  James  M.,  xx. 
Cox,  Samuel  S.,  247. 
Cranberry,  N.  J.,  17. 
Crane,   Delaware,    151. 
Crawford,  William  H.,  38,  39,  40, 

42,  43,   44,   45,   46,   47,   4-8,   49, 

50,  51,  52,  54,  58,  59,  60,  61. 
Credit    Mobilier,    252,    253,    257, 

271. 
Crime  of,  1873,  320. 
Crimea,  208,  209. 
Crittenden,  J.  J.   137,   139. 
Creeks,  43. 
Cuban  Slavery,  107. 
Cumberland  River,  33. 
Curtin,  Gov.  A.  G.,  210,  250. 
Curtis,  George  William,  292. 
Cushing,  Caleb,  162,  184,  298. 
Cushing,  Col.,  31,  128. 


Dallas,  A.  J.,  17. 
Dana,  Charles  A.,  318. 
Dana,  Richard  H.,  316. 
Darrow,  C.  A.,  337. 
Dartmouth  College,  in,  112. 
Darwin,  Charles,   336. 
Davis,  David,  250,  252. 
Davis,   Jefferson,   xv,   91,   95,   96, 

97,  136,  161,  172,  185,  187,  208, 

248,  298,  307,  314. 
Davis,    Mrs.    Jefferson,    76,    131, 

136. 
Dayton,  Jonathan,  22,  31. 
Dayton,  Tenn.,   336. 
Dayton,  W.  L.,  121,  162. 


Dearborn,  Sen.,  128. 

Deacon,  Peter,  79. 

Declaration  of  Independence,  2. 

Deerfield,  N.  H.,  279. 

Delaware,  121,  227,  264. 

Delaware  Indians,  153. 

Democracy,  N.  Y.,  268. 

Democrats,  136,  137,  171,  183, 
264. 

Democratic,  66,   167. 

Democratic   Congress,   260. 

Democratic  National  Convention, 
105,   173,   251,  261. 

Democratic  Party,  xv,  184,  235, 
258,    260,    301. 

Dennison,   Gov.  William,  210. 

Denny,  Delaware,  151. 

Department  of  the  Gulf,  312. 

Department  of  Missouri,  162. 

Department  of  Ohio,  211. 

Department  of  Virginia  and 
North  Carolina,  315. 

Desaix,  Gen.,  140. 

Detroit,  98,  99,   100,  109,   127. 

Dickinson,  Daniel  S.,  91,  184,  194. 

Dickinson,  Gov.,   101. 

Dinwiddie     County,    127. 

District  of  Columbia,  69,  70. 

Division  of  the  Potomac,  213. 

Dixon,  Senator  Archibald,  175. 

Donegal,   County  of,   54. 

Donelson,    Fort,   218. 

Donner   Party,    149. 

Dooly,  Judge,  51. 

Dooley,  Mr.,  xiv. 

Doughface,    106. 

Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  103,  105, 
167,  168,  169,  170,  171,  172,  173, 
174,  175,  176,  177,  178,  179,  180, 
181,  182,  183,  184,  185,  186,  187, 
188,  189,  190,  191,  210,  246,  248, 
298. 

Douglas,    Dr.   S.   A.,    168. 

Douglasites,   186. 

Dow,  Col.  Neal,  312. 

Downing,  Sir  George,  1. 


344 


Index 


Downs,  S.  W.,  91. 
Draft  Riots,  N.  Y.,  232. 
Dresden,  227. 
Drury's  Bluff,   315. 
Dry  Tortugas,   188,   213. 
Dudley,  W.  W.,  294. 
Duncan,  Gen.,  133. 
Duryea,  Abram,   309. 
Dutch  Gap  Canal,  315. 
Dwight,  Theodore,  54. 


Early,  Jubal  A.,  274. 
East  Poultney,   Vt.,   244. 
Eaton,  John   H.,   59. 
Eaton,  "Peggy,"  63. 
Eaton,   Gen.  William,  28. 
Edmunds,  George  F.,  264,  291. 
Edmunds,    John   W.,   255. 
Edwards,   Jonathan,    z. 
Edwards,    Ninian,  45,  46. 
Edwards,  Ninian  W.,  46. 
Edwards,  Timothy,  1,  2,  4. 
Egan,  Patrick,  296. 
Eight  to  Seven,  265. 
Electorial   College,  xiii. 
Electorial  Commission,  264. 
Eliot,  Charles  W.,  292. 
Ellison,   Charlotte,   299. 
Ellmaker,  James,   84. 
Elskawata,  xiv,  xix. 
Emancipation   Proclamation,    205, 

310. 
England,     104,     116,     148,     172, 

203. 
English  Fleet,  149. 
English,    James   E.,   238,   280. 
Erie  Canal,  230. 
Erie,  ship,  107. 
Eustis,  J.  B.,  236. 
Evarts,    William    M.,    xviii,    121, 

200,  247,  264. 
Exeter    Academy,    99. 
Exeter,  N.  H.,  98,  nz. 


F 


Faneuil   Hall,   119. 
Fair,  J.  G.,  321. 
Fairchild,   C.  S.,  267. 
Fair  Oaks,  battle  of,  219. 
Farragut,    D.    G.,    138,    139,    312, 

314,   316. 
Federal  Reserve  Bank,  320. 
Federalism,  38. 
Federalists,  39. 
Fenian   raid,   207. 
Fessenden,  William  Pitt,   i2z. 
Field,   Stephen  J.,   264,  271. 
Fifteenth  Amendment,  241. 
Fillmore,    Millard,    xiv,    92,    120, 

121,  122,  123,  136,  162,  195. 
Fish,  Sarah,  168. 
Fisher,   Warren,  Jr.,  284. 
Florida,  57,  77,  260. 
Florida,    N.    Y.,    192. 
Floyd,  J.  B.,  108,  2ii. 
Ford,  Gov.  of  Illinois,  171. 
Fourierism,  245. 
France,   144,   204. 
Franklin,    Gen.   W.  B.,  272. 
Fremont,  John  C,   144,   145,   146, 

147,    148,    149,    150,    151,    152, 

153,  154,  155,  156,  157,  158,  159, 

160,  161,  162,  163,  164,  165,  166, 

196,  226,  256. 
Fremont,  John  C.  Jr.,   165. 
Fremont,    Frances,    165. 
Fremont,    Mrs.    158. 
Free-Soil  Democrat,  229. 
Free-Staters,   161,   178. 
Free-Soil  Party,  xv,  104,  105,  106, 

195,  210,   245,   256,   303,   305. 
Free-Traders,    250. 
Fredericksburg,  Va.,   127,  205. 
French,   126,   205. 
Frisbie,  Miss  Annie,  152. 
Fryeburg,   Me.,   112. 
Folger,  Charles  J.,  xix,  291. 
Formance,    Joseph,    272. 
Fort  Douglas,  Z7Z. 


Index 


345 


Fort  Fisher,  316. 

Fort  George,   128. 

Fort  Hill,  Ga.,  74. 

Fort  Lafayette,  235. 

Fort  Laramie,   146,   157. 

Fortress    Monroe,    138,    309,    310, 

3*7- 
Fort  Moultrie,  138,   139. 
Fort  Warren,  203,  235. 
Forrest,  Gen.  N.  B.,  236. 
Forsyth,  John,  59,  60. 
"Forward  to  Richmond,"  247. 
Fowler,  killed,   152. 
Fox,   Gustavus  V.,   140,  141,  311. 
France,   104,   142. 
Frederick,  Md.,  308. 
Frederickstown,  Md.,  35. 
Frelinghuysen,  F.  T.,  264. 
Frelinghuysen,  Theodore,  88. 
French  Revolution,  317. 
Fugitive  Slave  Law,  194,  196. 


Gaines,  Gen.  E.  P.,  34,  131. 
Gaines,   Myra   Clark,   125. 
Gallatin,  Albert,  48. 
Gates,  Gen.  Horatio,  13. 
Garfield,    James    A.,    xviii,    264, 

270,   280,   289,   290,  291. 
Garland,  A.  H.,  236. 
Gavilan  Peak,  151. 
Georgia,  State  of,  39,  40,  48,  50, 

5i,  53,  58,  59,  83,  107,  144,  178, 

240,  252. 
Germans,   135. 
Gettysburg,  battle  of,  232. 
Ghent,  77,  80. 

Gibson,  Gen.  Randall  L.,  236. 
Gillam,    Bernhard,    293,    294. 
Gillespie,  Lt.  C.  W.,  153,  155. 
Gleason,  Patrick  J.,  295. 
God-like  Daniel,  no,  114. 
Gordon,  Capt.  Nathaniel,  107. 
Gore,  Christopher,  112. 
Gould,  Jay,  294,  295. 
Governor's  Island,  271. 


Graham   (gov't  agent),  33. 

Graham,  William  A.,  123. 

Grammercy  Park,  267. 

Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  270. 

Grant,  U.  S.,  xvii,  207,  211,  218, 
224,  227,  240,  248,  249,  252,  253, 
270,  271,  272,  277,  279,  315- 

Graystone,  267. 

Guadeloupe-Hidalgo,    Treaty   of, 

159- 

Gunnison,  Capt.  J.  W.,  161. 

Gwin,  W.  M.,  160. 

Great  Britain,  54,  73. 

Great  Northern  R.  R.,  xxi. 

Great   Salt  Lake,    147. 

Greek  Revolution,  112. 

Greeley,  Horace,  xvii,  78,  140, 
164,  180,  192,  193,  196,  200,  232, 
242,  243,  244,  245,  246,  247,  248, 
249,  250,  251,  252,  253,  254. 

Greeley  Square,  253. 

Greeley,  Zaccheus,  242. 

Greeley  Republicans,   292. 

Green,  Ashbel,  264. 

Green,  Duff,  61,  63. 

Green  River  Valley,  147. 

Greenbacks,    237,    238. 

Greenbackers,   321. 

Greenback  Party,   280,    321. 

Greenwood  Cemetery,  253. 

Grosvenor,  Thomas  P.,  55. 

Grundy,   Felix,   67. 


H 


Hackensack,  N.  J.,  7. 

Haiti,  207. 

Hale,  John  P.,   195,   196,   197. 

Half-breeds,  290. 

Halstead,   Murat,   249. 

Halleck,   Gen.   H.   W.,   218,   221, 

3*3- 
Hamilton,  Alexander,  xi,  2,  6,  7, 

8,  9,  10,  11,  12,  13,  14,  15,  16, 

20,  59. 
Hamilton,  James  A.,  59,  61. 


346 


Index 


Hamlin,  Hannibal,  226,  316. 
Hammond,  Jabez,  52. 
Hammond,  J.  H.,  65. 
Hampton,  Wade,  236,  239. 
Hampton,  Va.,   309. 
Hamtranck,  Col.  J.  F.,  97. 
Hancock,  Benjamin  F.,  271. 
Hancock,    Col.    John,    272. 
Hancock,  Hilary,  272. 
Hancock,   Gen.  W.   S.,   238,   262, 

270,  271,  272,  273,  274,  275,  276, 

277,  278,  279,  280,   317. 
Hanna,  Marcus  A.,  xx,  329. 
Hanover  Court  House,  battle  of, 

219. 
Hanover,  N.  H.,  112. 
Hard  Cider,  95. 
Harding,  John  J.,  169,  171. 
Harding,  Warren  G.,  xxiii. 
Harlan,  John   M.,  286. 
Harper  &  Bros.,  183. 
Harper's  Weekly,  252. 
Harriman,  S.  H.,  xxi. 
Harrison,  Benjamin,  xi,  296. 
Harrison's   Landing,   221. 
Harrison,    William    Henry,    xiv, 

xix,  24,  85,  86,  95,  99,  101,  114, 

116,  136,  201,  248. 
Harriet    Lane,    U.S.S.,    310. 
Harrisburg,  Pa.,  276. 
"Harry  of  the  West,"  77,  84. 
Hartranft,  J.  F.,  288. 
Hayes,  Mrs.  Lucy  Webb,  xvii. 
Hayes,  Rutherford  B.,  xvii,  xviii, 

166,  241,  262,  263,  264,  265,  270, 

288,  289. 
Hayne,  Robert  J.,  66,  67,  113,  114, 

117. 
Hatch,  O.  M.,  223. 
Hatteras,  311,  312. 
Hatteras  Inlet,   310. 
Harvard  Medicine  College,  317. 
Hearst,    William   R.,    331. 
Hearst,  George,  321. 
Hendricks,  Thomas  A.,  252,  261, 

271. 


Hermitage,  The,  100. 
Herald,  New  York,   135,  228. 
Hewitt,  Abram  S.,  263. 
Hicks   and   Hicks,   336. 
Higginson,  Col.  T.  W.,  292. 
"Higher  Law  Than  The  Consti- 
tution," 195. 
Hildreth,  Sarah,  301. 
Hill,  Gen.  A.  P.,  272. 
Hill,  Benjamin  H.,  236. 
Hill,  David  B.,  296,  326,  327. 
Hill,  Sen.  D.  H.,  272. 
Hill,  James  J.,  xx. 
Hoadley,  George,  264. 
Hoffman,  Gov.  John  T.,  251. 
Hunter,  R.  M.  T.,  184. 
Hoar,  George  F.,  264,  292. 
Hoar,  E.  Rockwood,  317,  319. 
Hoboken,    N.   J.,    336. 
Hoche,  Gen.,  140. 
Hollman,  David,  160. 
Holt,  Joseph,  138,  139. 
Holy  Office,   336. 
Homestead  Act,  246. 
Hone,  Philip,   100,  103,  115. 
Hooker,  Gen.  Joseph  E.,  222,  275. 
Howe,  E.  W.,  338. 
Howe,  Dr.  Samuel  G.,  112. 
Hosack,  Dr.  David,  16. 
Hull,  Gen.  William,  99. 
Humboldt,    Nevada,    149. 
Hunker  Democrats,  196,  303. 
Hunt,   Washington,   228. 
Hunton,  Eppa,  264. 
Hurlbert,  S.  A.,  140. 
Husted,  Gen.  James  W.,  258. 
Hyde,  Elder  Orson,  120. 


"Ichabod,"    119. 

Ide,  William  B.,  152. 

"Illiad  of  the  19th  Century,"  136. 

Illinois,  83,  121,  168,  172,  173,  176, 

180. 
Illinois  Central  R.  R.,  209,  213. 


Index 


347 


Independent  Republicans,  249. 
Indiana,    251,    264. 
Indian  Territory,   145. 
Ingersoll,  Col.  R.  G.,  286,  287. 
Ingham,   Samuel   D.,   64. 
"Irrepressible   Conflict,"    197. 
Irish,  134,  135,  297. 
Irishmen,  135. 
Iowa,  174. 
Izard's  Regiment,  128. 


Jackson,  Andrew,  xiii,  21,  23,  43, 
48,  49,  50,  53,  57,  58,  59,  60, 
61,  62,  63,  64,  65,  66,  67,  68, 
76,  77,  78,  83,  84,  85,  86,  88, 
89,  95,  100,  104,  116,  129,  130, 
144,  168,  178,  260,  268. 

Jackson,  David  S.,  246. 

Jackson,  Fort,   312. 

Jackson  Guard,  305. 

Jacksonian,    86,   88. 

Jackson,  Thomas  J.  (Stonewall), 
272. 

Jacksonville,  Fla.,  168,  173,  324. 

Jamaica,  32. 

Jay,  John,  10,  11. 

Jesup,   Gen.  Thomas   S.,   82. 

Jefferson  Barracks,  273. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  xi,  xii,  10,  11, 
13,  20,  21,  24,  25,  27,  28,  32,  35, 
36,  38,  47,  99,  206,  260. 

Jefferson's  Bill  of  Rights,  177. 

Jeffersonians,   17,  53. 

Jekyl   Island,   Ga.,  107. 

Johannesburg,   258. 

Johnson,  Andrew,  xvii,  184,  206. 
207,  226,  248,  316. 

Johnston,  wounded,   155. 

Johnston,  Gen.  Joseph  E.,  316. 

Johnston,  Gen.  Albert  S.,  273. 

Joineville,  Prince  de,  219. 

Jones,  Col.  C.  H.,  326,  331,  '332. 

Jones,  Col.  E.  F.,  308. 

Jordan,  Conrad  N.,  266, 


Joy,  James  F.,  289. 

Judiciary    Committee,    284,    285, 

299. 
Jumel,   Madam,   36. 


Kansas,    xv,    146,    161,    175,    177, 

178,   179. 
Kansas  River,   158. 
Kansas-Nebraska,    133,    136,    173, 

174,  175,  176,  177,  245. 
Kanawha,   211. 
Kearney,   Gen.   S.   W.,    155,    156, 

157. 
Keene,  Col.  R.  R.,  45. 
Kelly,  John,  261. 
Kennebec,  4,  300. 
Kennebec  Journal,  282. 
Kerman,    Francis,   261,   262. 
Kerr,  Michael  C,  260,  282. 
Kent,   Judge,    14. 
Kent,    William,    257. 
Kentucky,    28,    68,    79,    136,    175, 

227,   282. 
Key   West,    188. 
Kinderhook,  68,  255. 
King,    Preston,    139,    199. 
King,   William  R.,   91,   106. 
Kingsbridge,    7. 
Kiokee  Creek,  40. 
Klamath   Indians,   151. 
Knott,    Proctor,    285. 
Know-Nothings,  161,  199,  229. 
Know-Nothing  Party,  xv,  303. 
Knox,    Gen.   Henry,   6. 
Knox,   John,    2. 
Ku-Klux-Klan,  229,  271,  334. 


Lamon,   Ward   Lt.,   140. 
Lane,   Gen.  Joseph,   184. 
Larkins,  Thomas  O.,   150,   151. 
Las  Vegas,  Nev.,  148. 


348 


Index 


Latin-America,  81. 

Law,    George,   '310. 

Lawrence,   Kan.,   201. 

League  of  Nations,  xxii. 

Leavenworth,   Fort,  273. 

Lecompton  Constitution,  177,  178, 
179. 

Ledger,  Philadelphia,   161. 

Lee,   Gen.  Charles,  7. 

Lee,  Gen.  Robert  E.,  221,  222. 

Legislature,  New  York,  xviii,  12. 

Leggett,   William,   268. 

Lejuenesse',  Basil,  151. 

Leland,   Charles   G.,   141. 

Leopard,  H.B.M.S.,   127. 

Lewis,  W.  B.,  59,  60,  61. 

Lexington,   Ky.,    79,    83,    84,    87. 

Lexington,   Mass.,   4. 

Liberia,    Republic   of,   80. 

Libby  Prison,  288. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  xv,  xvi,  xvii, 
17,  138,  139,  142,  162,  163,  164, 
167,  169,  176,  180,  181,  187, 
188,  190,  192,  202,  204,  205, 
209,  213,  214,  215,  217,  218, 
222,  223,  224,  225,  226,  227, 
232,  234,  235,  237,  239,  247, 
248,    249,    256,    274,    277,    311, 

315- 
Lincoln-Douglas  debate,  182. 
Lincoln,   Neb.,   324,   330,  332. 
Litchfield,  Conn.,  4,  54. 
"Little  Black  Dan,"  no. 
"Little  Giant,"  167,  169,  188,  190. 
Little  Rock  and  Fort  Smith  R.  R. 

283. 
Lodge,  Henry  Cabot,  292. 
Log  Cabin,  the,  243. 
Log  Cabin  and  Hard  Cider,  95, 

201. 
Logan,  Gen.  John  A.,  292. 
London,    160,    162. 
Long  Branch,  N.  J.,  232. 
Long  Island   City,  295. 
Longstreet,  Gen.  James,  272,  274. 
Los  Angeles,   155,   156,   166,  273. 


Louisiana,  164,  252,  263,  314. 
Louisiana  Purchase,  xii,  80,  206. 
Louisiana   Territory,    19. 
Lowell   Guards,   305. 
Lowell,  James  Russell,  201. 
Lowell,  Mass.,  300,  302,  303,  319. 
Lundy's  Lane,  126,   128,  135. 
Lyon,  Matthew,  20,  21. 
Lyons,    France,    144. 


M 


Macon,  Nathaniel,  48,  50. 

Mackay,  John  W.,  321. 

Madison,  James,  xii,  10,  36,  41, 
43,    56,    260. 

Mafia    Murders,    296. 

Magum,  Willis  P.,  91,  115. 

Maine,  4,  121,  130,  282,  296,  297. 

Maine   Boundary,    116. 

Maine    Law,    134. 

Maine,  Second  Regiment  Muti- 
nous, 213. 

Malcom,   Col.,  6. 

Malvern   Hill,  Battle  of,  221. 

Mallory,  Col.,  309. 

Mangan,    Patrick,    35. 

Mansfield,    Gen.,    222. 

Manhattan   Island,   5. 

Marble,  Manton,  239,  261. 

Marcy,   Capt,  R.  B.,  209. 

Marcy,  Mary  Ellen,  209. 

Marcy,  William  L.,  105,  133,  193, 
228,    256. 

Mariposa,  150. 

Mariposa  Grant,  150,  159,  162, 
165. 

Marietta,    O.,    33,   99. 

Marion,  O.,  xxiii. 

Marshall,  John,  34,  79. 

Marshall,  James  Wilson,  158. 

Marshall,  Thomas  F.,  193. 

Marshfield,    123,    124. 

Martin,    Luther,    34. 

Marvin,    Jacob,    55* 


Index 


349 


Maryland,  35,  101,  221,  240,  252, 

274,  308. 
Mason,    Col.,    157. 
Mason    and    Dixon's    Line,    138, 

Mason,  J.   M.,  73,  91,   118. 
Mason    and    Slidell,    203. 
Masonic   Hall,    115. 
Massachusetts,  84,   112,   119,   123, 

136,    184,    264,    303,    304,    305, 

306,   311,  314,   317. 
McClellan,  Gen.  George  B.,  137, 

142,    208,    209,    210,    211,    212, 

213,    214,    215,    216,    217,    218, 

219,    220,    221,    222,    223,    224, 

225,    226,    227,    235,    257,    272, 

274,   275. 
McClellan,    Mayor     George     B., 

227. 
McClellan,  Dr.  George,  208. 
McClernand,  Gen.  John  A.,  261. 
McDonald,    J.   E.,   236,   271. 
McDougall,  J.  A.,   171. 
McDougall,  Walter,   271. 
McGovern,  Capt.  John,  139. 
McKinley,  William,  xx,  272. 
Maryland,    227. 
Matthews,  Stanley,  250,  264. 
Maywood,    227. 

Maximillian,  Emperor,  204,  206. 
Meagher,  Thomas  F.,  275. 
Memphis,    El    Paso    and    Pacific 

R.   R.,    165. 
Medill,    Joseph,   249. 
Meredicia,  111.,  173. 
Merrick,  R.  T.,  264. 
Merritt,  Ezekiel,  152. 
Methodists,  73. 
Metternich,    259. 
Mexico,  28,  72,  98,  102,  117,  131, 

135,    147,    148,    151,    170,    171, 

172,   193,  205,  209. 
Mexico  City,   132,   273. 
Mexican,   135,  147,  151,  152,  153, 

156,   206. 
Mexican  Territory,  98. 


Mexican    War,    xiv,    72-95,    117, 

131,  135,  159,  171,  173,  272. 
Miami,   Fla.,    335,    338. 
Michigan,  98,   101,  262. 
Michigan,  Lake,  173. 
Michigander,   108,   109. 
Middlebury,  Vt.,  168. 
Mikado,  xiv. 
Military  Department  of  the  East, 

271. 
Mill-boy  of  the  Slashes,  79. 
Miller,   Samuel   F.,   264. 
Minister   to   France,   103. 
Minnesota,    174. 
Miranda,    Francisco,   25,    26. 
Missouri,  56,  80,  83,  93,  146,  163, 

174,  175- 
Missouri  Compromise,  xv,  57,  70, 

174,  175,  176. 
Missouri  Independents,  249. 
Missouri  river,  56. 
Mississippi,   32,  75,  83,   137,   172, 

178,    240,    252. 
Mississippi   river,   59,   312. 
Mississippi,  U.S.S.,  308. 
Mitchell,  John  W.,   144. 
Mobile',    Ala.,    312. 
Mohegan,  292 
Molino  del  Rey,  288. 
Moncrieffe,   Margaret,   6. 
Monroe  Doctrine,  xiii,  43,  81,  83. 
Monroe,    James,   xii,    10,    39,    40, 

42,  56,  60,  61,  63. 
Monterey,  66,  150,   154,   155. 
Montezuma,  204. 
Montezumas,  Halls  of,  132. 
Montgomery,    Ala.,   202. 
Montgomery   County,  Pa.,  271. 
Montgomery,   Commander,  154. 
Montgomery,  Gen.  James,  4,  5. 
Monticello,    47. 
Montreal,    5. 
Mooney,  William,  9. 
Moore,  Risdon,  153. 
Moore,  wounded,  155. 
Morgan  County,  111.,  168. 


350 


Index 


Morgan,  E.  D.,  247. 
Morgan,  William,   193. 
Mormon,  158,  170,  172,  273. 
Mormonism,    170,    171,    172. 
Morris,   Gouverneur,   10. 
Morris  Island,  139. 
Morse,  A.  P.,  264. 
Morton,  Levi  P.,  290. 
Morton,  Oliver  P.,  264,  271. 
Moltey,  John  L.,  249. 
Mugwumps,  292. 
Mulligan,  James,  288,  293. 
Mumford,  W.  B.,  312. 
Mutiny,  157. 

N 

National  Spectator,  The,  244. 
Napoleon,    Emperor,    xii,    22,    41, 

149. 
Napoleon,  Louis,  205,  206,  314. 
Napoleonic,   164. 
Nasby,  Petroleum  V.,  191. 
Nashville,   Tenn.,  22,   33,   59,   64, 

100,   114,   144. 
Nast,  Thomas,  252. 
Natchez,  U.S.S.,   145. 
Natchez,  23,  33. 
National  Americans,  123. 
National  Arts  Club,  267. 
National  Chairman,  262. 
National   Committee,  263. 
National    Convention,    119. 
National  Intelligencer,  The,  246. 
National    Republicans,    83. 
Nauroo,    111.,    170. 
Nebraska,    146. 
New  Gospel  of  Peace,  234. 
Newark,  N.  J.,  2. 
New   Brunswick,   130. 
Newburyport,  Mass.,  4. 
New  England,  119,  178. 
New  Hampshire,  hi,  112,  299. 
New  Helvetia,   149. 
New   Jersey,    121,    166,   227,   240, 

264,  295. 


New  Mexico,  118,  149,  172,  194. 

New  Orleans,  21,  32,  79,  164. 

New  Orleans  Delta,  133. 

Neuces  River,  148. 

New  York  City,  5,  6,  65,  136,  268. 

New  York  Daily  News,  234. 

New  York  Evening  Express,  234. 

Ne<w  Yorker,  243,  244. 

New   York    State,    105,    121,    166, 

240,  295,  296. 
New  York  Times,  229,  243,  310. 
New  York  Tribune,  119,  242,  243, 

245,  246,  248,  249,  252,  267. 
Nevada,   148,   321,   326. 
Niagara,  128. 
Nicollet,  Jean  F.,  145,  146. 
Niblo's   Saloon,   116. 
Nicaragua,  106. 
Norfolk,  Va.,   145. 
Norristown,  Pa.,  272,  276,  281. 
North  Africa,  28. 
Northern  Press,  119. 
Northwest,  145. 
North  West  Territory,  100. 
Nuevo  Leon,  66. 
Nullification,  66,  67. 
Nullifiers,  268. 


O'Connor,  Charles,  256,  258,  264. 
Ogden,  Matthias,  3. 
Ogden,  Young,  32. 
Oglesby,  Gov.  R.  J.,  211. 
Oglethorpe   County,    Ga.,   40. 
Ohio,  96,  115,  121,  122,  139,  175, 

232,  264. 
Ohio  Idea,  The,  238,  239. 
Ohio  Indians,  99. 
Ohio  Legislature,  99. 
Ohio  and  Mississippi  R.  R.,  209. 
Ohio  River,  99. 
Old   Bullion,   93. 
Old  White  Hat,  242. 
Olmstead,   Frederick  Law,  251. 
Old  Cock-eye,  299. 


Index 


35i 


Old  Fuss  and  Feathers,  125,  134. 

Old  Hickory,  81. 

Oregon,    116,    146,    148,    170,    173, 

184,  240,  264. 
Oregon  Boundary,   172. 
Osgood,  Samuel,  112. 
Orcutt,   E.   B.,   267. 
Ord,  Sen.  E.  O.  C,  272. 
Orpheus,  113. 
Orton,  William,  253. 
Ottendorfer,   Oswald,   251. 
Oxford  County,  Me.,  112. 


Pacific  Coast,   148. 

Pacific  Railway,  173. 

Pacific  Squadron,  152. 

Packer,  Asa,  238. 

Palmer,  H.  M.,  236. 

Palmer  and   Buckner,   329. 

Palmer,  John  M.,  329. 

Palmerston,  Lord,  143,  313. 

Panama,   81,    158. 

Paraguay,   107. 

Paramus,  N.  J.,  7. 

Parker,  Alton  B.,  x,  331,  332. 

Parker,   John,    261. 

Parker,  Theodore,  74,  119,  120. 

Paris,  142,  160,  165. 

Parowan,   161. 

Parris,  E.  L.,  267. 

Parton,  James,  9,   313. 

Pathfinder,  144,  166. 

Patterson,  William,  3. 

Patterson,  Robert  E.,  329. 

Peabody,   George,    160. 

Pei-ho  river,  107. 

Pelton,  W.  T.,  267. 

Pendleton,    George    H.,   225,   236, 

238,  239. 
Pendleton,  Nathan,  16. 
Pennsylvania,   State,  xv,  99,   105, 

178,  264. 
Penrose,  Boies,  xxiii. 
Pensacola,  Fla.,  34,  203. 


Perry,    Commodore,    M.    C,    xiv, 

13*1  132- 
Petersburg,  Va.,  128,  227,  315. 
Phelps,   Samuel   S.,   91. 
Philadelphia,   161,   240,  303. 
Phillips  Academy,   in. 
Phillips,  Wendell,  199. 
Pierce,  Franklin,  xiv,  xv,  96,  106, 

121,  134,  135,  136,  173,  175,  208, 

229. 
Piermont  on   the    Hudson,    166. 
Pillow,  Gen.  Gideon  J.,  133. 
Pinckney,   Thomas,    39. 
Pine  Tree  State,  282. 
Pio   Pico,    Gov.,    150,    156. 
Pitt,  William,  28. 
Pittsburgh,  99. 

Piatt,  Thomas  C,  289,  290,  291. 
Plattsburg,  N.  Y.,  127. 
Pleasanton,  Sen.  A.  J.,  272. 
Plumed  Knight,  287,  295. 
Polk,   James   K.,   xiv,   88,   89,    95, 

96,   97,   98,    102,    117,    132,    133, 

148,  154,  158,  171. 
Poinsett,  Joel  R.,  145. 
Pompey,  N.  Y.,  228. 
Pope,  Gen.  John,  165. 
Popular     Sovereignty,     183,     188, 

190,   245. 
Porter,  Commodore  D.  D.,  316. 
Port  Hudson,  232. 
Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  112. 
Portsmouth,  U.S.S.,   152,   153. 
Portland,  Me.,   107,  306. 
Post-Dispatch,  St.  Louis,  326,  330, 

332. 
Postmaster     General,     165,     227, 

247. 
Powell,  Lewis  Payne,  205. 
Presbyterian  Church,  335. 
Preston,    Sen.   William,   236,   239. 
Prevost,  Theodosia,   7,   8. 
Price,   Gen.   Stirling,    163. 
Prim,    Gen.    219. 
Prince  of  Peace,  320,  332,  337. 
Prince  of  Wales,  335. 


352 


Index 


Princeton,  N.  J.,  36. 
Princeton  College,  2,  3,  129. 
Princeton,  U.S.S.,  71. 
Proctor,  L.  B.,  229,  230. 
Presidency,  119. 
Prohibition,  196,  312. 
Prohibition   Party,   335. 
Prussia,  104. 
Pryor,  Major  John,  144. 
Pryor,  Roger  A.,  275. 
Puck,  293. 

Putman,  Gen.  Israel,  5,  6. 
Pulitzer,    Joseph,    249,    250,    282, 
330,   332. 


Quebec,  4,  5. 

Queenstown,  Battle  of,  128. 


Rail-Splitter,  201. 

Randall,  Samuel,  J.,  260,  261,  271. 

Randolph,  John  (of  Roanoke),  46, 

50,  54,  56,  81,  82. 
Raymond,  Henry  J.,  243,  310. 
Rebel    Brigadiers,    282. 
Rebellion,  164. 
Reconstruction,  241,  316. 
Red  River,  272. 
Reeve,  Tapping,  2,  4,  54. 
Reid,  John   C,   263. 
Reid,  Whitelaw,  250. 
Reno,  Gen.  J.  L.,  272. 
Republic  of  California,  152. 
Republican   National   Convention, 

161,  186,  199,  270,  284. 
Republicans,  138,  167,  264,  266. 
Republican    Party,    xv,    xxi,    121, 

139,  161,  176,  182,  196,  230. 
Revolution,  168. 
Reynolds,   Gen.  J.  F.,  272. 
Rhett,  R.  B.,  236. 
Rhodes,    James    Ford,    199,    206, 

231,  285. 


Richardson,  Albert  D.,   188,   189, 

274. 
Richardson,  Gen.  I.  B.,  222,  274. 
Richmond,  Dean,  257. 
Richmond  Hill,  5,  8,  12,  16. 
Richmond,  Va.,  117,  129,  219,  309, 

316. 
Ringold,  Finch,  60. 
Rio  Grande,  148,  151,  153,  154. 
Robertson,   Dr.  John,   145. 
Robertson,  W.  H.,  290. 
Robinson,  E.  T.,  205. 
Rockies,  The,  146,  159. 
Rockland  Cemetery,  166. 
Roman   Proconsuls,    116. 
Roosevelt,  Theodore,  xx,  xxi,  291, 

330,  338. 
Rousseau,  J.  J.,  317. 
Royal  Gorge,  149. 
Russell,  Miss  Almira,  273. 
Russell,   Earl,  203,  204. 
Russell,  William  E.,  327. 
Russia,  205. 


S 


Sacramento,   Cal.,   151. 
Salisbury,  N.  H.,  no,  in,  112. 
Salt  Lake  City,  161,  171. 
San   Francisco,   158,   159. 
San  Francisco  Bay,  149,  165. 
Santa  Anna,  96,  131. 
San   Diego,   156. 
Saratoga,  in. 
Sargeant,  John,  81,  83. 
Sargent,  Thomas  D.,  160. 
Savannah,  Ga.,   144. 
Schofield,  Gen.,  164. 
Schuyler,  Philip,  9,  n. 
Schurz,  Carl,  165,  250,  251. 
Scopes,  J.  J.,  336. 
Scott,   Dred,   176,   182,   306. 
Scott,  Thomas  A.,  284,  285. 
Scott,  Gen.  Winfield,  45,  96,  121, 
122,  125,  126,  127,  128,  129,  130, 


Index 


353 


*3*.  132,  133,  134,  135,  136,  137. 
138,  139,  140,  141,  142,  I43..2", 

212,  213,  214,  215,  2l8,  308,  309, 

3"- 

Secretary  of  the  Navy,  108. 
Secretary   of    State,   86,    106,    109, 

116,   121,  205,  296. 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  42,  43, 

132,  139,  299. 
Secretary   of    War,    42,    43,    108, 

Hi,  145,  H8,  222,  257. 
Secession,   321. 
Seminole   Indians,   130. 
Seraraes,  Raphael,   132. 
Senate,  U.  S.,  109,  117,  130,  175, 

179,  206,  265. 
Seward,  F.  W.,  205. 
Seward,  William  H.,  xii,  xxvi,  90, 

121,  123,  i39,  172,  187,  190,  192, 

193,    194,    195,    196,    197,    198, 

199,    200,    201,    202,    203,    204, 

205,  206,  207,  211,  213,  216,  217, 

240,    242,    243,    245,    246,    248, 

249. 
Seymour,   Horatio,  228,   229,  230, 

231,  232,  233,  234,  235,  236,  237, 

238,  239,  240,  241,  252. 
Shasta,  Mt.,   151. 
Shawnees,  xiv. 
Shields,  James,  175,  176. 
Shellabaerger,  Samuel,  264. 
Shenandoah  Valley,  165. 
Sherman,  John,  xx. 
Sherman's   March,  227. 
Shepley,  George  F.,  306. 
Ship  Island,  312. 
Sierra   Nevada,    147,    149. 
Sinclair,  Samuel,  253. 
Sing   Sing  prison,    193. 
Sixth     Massachusetts     Regiment, 

308. 
Skeddadlers,  271. 
Slashes,  The,  79. 
Sloat,  Commodore  J.  D.,  151,  154, 

155. 
Smith,  Lt.,  32. 


Smith,   Joseph,    Mormon   Prophet, 

170. 
Smith,  Thomas,  8. 
Smith,  William,  of  Ga.,  53. 
Smith,   William,    301,    302. 
Sonoma,   152,   153,   154. 
South   American,   145. 
South    Carolina,    xiii,    39,    83,    84, 

178,  263. 
Southern  Confederacy,  188. 
South   Mountains,   battle   of,   222. 
South  Pass,  146. 
Spanish,  99. 

Sprague,  Kate  Chase,  xvii. 
Spring,  Samuel,  3. 
Spring,  William,  264. 
Springfield,   111.,   173,  232. 
St.  Croix,  207. 
St.  Domingo,  207,  261. 
St.  Louis,  157,  158. 
St.  Philip,  Ft.,  312. 
St.  Thomas,  207. 
Stanton,  Edwin  M.,  xvi,  215,  220, 

226,  234. 
Stockton,   Commodore   R.  F.,   154, 

155,   156. 
Starke,  Gen.  John,  in. 
Star  of  the  West,  139. 
Stars  and  Stripes,  154. 
Stephens,  Alexander  H.,  123. 
Sterling,  Lord,  7. 
Stevens,  Mrs.  Paran,  302. 
Stevens,   Thaddeus,   xvii. 
Stewart,  William  M.,  241. 
Stock  Exchange,  N.  Y.,  xix. 
Stoeckl,  Baron,  206. 
Story,  Francis  V.,  244. 
Stoughton,  E.  W.,  264. 
Sub-Treasury,   257. 
Sumner,    Charles,    190,    195,    248, 

249,   3i3»   3i7. 
Sumter,  Fort,  141,  162,  203,  307. 
Sun,  New  York,  266. 
"Superb"    The,    270,    274. 
Sutter's  Fort,  148,  149,  153. 
Sutter,  John  A.,  147,  153,  158. 


354 


Index 


Swartwouts,  9. 

Swartwout,    Samuel,    18,    31,    33, 

78. 
Swiss,  149. 


Tammany  Hall,  9,  236,  292. 

Taft,  W.  H.,  xxi,  332. 

Taney,  Roger,  176,  182,  185,  190, 

205. 
Taos,  159. 

Tariff  Discrimination,  169. 
Tarrytown,  N.  Y.,  165. 
Tattnall,  Col.,  82. 
Tattnall,  Commodore  Josiah,  107. 
Tattooed  Man,  293,  294. 
Taylor,  Zachary,  xiv,  27,  72,  90, 

92,  95,  96,  97,  98,  103,  105,  152, 

133,  136,  172,  194,  195. 
Tecumseh,  99. 
Tennessean,   130. 
Tennessee,  State  of,   67,  95,   136, 

144,  252,  316. 
Tenth  Military  District,  129. 
Terry,  Gen.  A.  H.,  316. 
Texas,  88,  89,  98,   101,   148,   164, 

170,  171,  172,  174,  240,  252. 
Tewksbury,  Almshouse',  317. 
Tilden,    Samuel    Jones,    255,    256, 

257,  258,  259,  260,  261,  262,  263, 

264,  265,  266,  267,  268. 
Todd,  Gov.  David,  186. 
Tompkins,  Gov.  Daniel  D.,  39. 
Tombs,  N.  Y.,  prison,  107. 
Toombs,  Robert,  123,  201. 
Topeka    Constitution,    177. 
Tories,  7. 
Totten,  Geti.,   137. 
Toucey,  Isaac,   108,   109. 
Touloumne  River,  151. 
Towson,  Fort,  272. 
Thames,  Battle  of,  99. 
Treaty  of  Couenga,  156. 
Tremont  Temple,  317. 
Treasury  Department,  320. 


Trenton,  N.  J.,  123,  223,  224,  227. 
Trescott,  W.  H.,  108. 
Trumbull,   Lyman,   176,  250,  253, 

264. 
Truxton,  Commodore  Thomas,  17, 

28. 
Tweed,    William    M.,    252,    257, 

261,  269. 
Twenty  Years  of   Congress,  236, 

296. 
Tyler,   Comfort,  28. 
Tyler,  John,  xiv,  71,  72,  85,  86,  87, 

95,  116,  117,  120,  248. 


U 


Ullman,  Daniel,  229. 

Union,  143,  173,  231,  246. 

Union  College,  193. 

Union  Convention,  123. 

United  States,  104,  108,  127,  148, 

170,  177,  188,  225,  307. 
United    States    Naval    Academy, 

3i9- 

United  States  Navy,  153. 

Universalist,    254. 

University  of  Pennsylvania,  208. 

Upshur,  John  H.,  71. 

Utah,  118,  148,  194. 

Utica,  N.  Y.,  228,  229,  241. 


Van  Allen,  Lawrence,  47. 

Van  Buren,   Martin,  xiii,  44,  45, 

47,   48,   65,   68,    69,   85,   88,   95, 

101,  104,  115,  130,  169,  193,  196, 

228,  256,  260,  268,  301. 
Vance,  Zebulon  B.,  236. 
Van  Ness,  William  P.,  14,  15,  16. 
Van  Nesses,  9. 
Vanity  Fair,  141. 
Vallandigham,    C.    L.,    225,    235, 

236. 
Vallejo,  Gov.,  152. 
Valley   Forge,   7. 


Index 


355 


Valhalla,  7. 

Valparaiso,   Chile,  296. 

Van  Renssalaer,  228, 

Venezuela,  xx,  299. 

Vermont,  136,  264. 

Vera   Cruz,   96,   131,   132. 

Vicksburg,   232. 

Victoria,  Queen,  143. 

Vilas,  William  F.,  261,  327. 

Virgin    Islands,   206. 

Virginia,   128,  129,  172,  200,  240, 

309. 
Virginia  Ham,  126. 
Virginian,  127. 
Villa    Serena,    335. 
Voorhees,  Daniel  W.,  236,  261. 
Volstead,  xvii. 
Voltaire,    317. 

W 

Wade,  Benjamin  F.,  xvii,  248. 

Wakefield,  Ala.,  34. 

Walker  Lake,  149,  150. 

Walker,  Robert  J.,  97,   132,  178. 

Walker   Tariff,    105. 

Wallace,  Gen.  Lew,  227. 

Wall  Street,  199. 

Walker,  William,  106. 

Walpole,  Lt.   154. 

War  Democrats,  225. 

War  Department,    311. 

Ward,  Artemus,  xxiii. 

Warner's  Ranch,  155. 

Warren,  Charles  H.,  301. 

Warren,  W.  B.,  171. 

Washington,  D.  C,  21,  74,  77, 
107,  127,  130,  132,  i35,  136,  137, 
139,  147,  151,  153,  154,  155,  157, 
160,  161,  163,  194,  195,  202,  221, 
233,  273. 

Washington,  Bushrod,  93. 

Washingtonian  movement,  229. 

Washington,  George,  xi,  xii,  5, 
6,  7,  10. 

Washita,  27. 


Washita,    Fort,    272. 

Waterville,   Me.,   300. 

Watkins,  Henry,  79. 

Watterson,  Col.  Henry,  261,  263. 

Wayne,  Pa.,  244. 

Weaver,  James  B.,  xix,  321. 

Webb,  James  Watson,  193. 

Webb,   William   Seward,   193. 

Webster,  Daniel,  xxiv,  66,  68,  70, 
74,  85,  86,  91,  92,  no,  in,  112, 
113,  114,  115,  116,  117,  "8,  119, 
120,  121,  122,  123,  124,  126, 
127,  130,  136,  169,  172,  173,  181, 
190,  194,  195,  268,  295. 

Webster,  Ebenezer,  no,  in. 

Webster,  Edward,  117. 

Webster,  Ezekiel,   n. 

Weed,  Smith  M.,  267. 

Weed,  Thurlow,  140,  142,  193, 
196,  199,  200,  201,  203,  230,  231, 
242,  245,  247,  250,  253,  313. 

Weehawken,  N.  J.,  16. 

Welles,  Gideon,  xvi. 

West,  John  T.,  244- 

West  Brownsville,  Pa.,  282. 

West  Point,  143,  208,  209,  272, 
300,  305. 

Western  Union  Tel.  Co.,  253,  294. 

Wells,  David  A.,  251. 

Wheeler,  William  A.,  261,  288. 

Whig   Convention,    121,    133. 

Whig,   115,   134,   139,   195,  228. 

Whiggery,  103. 

Whigs,  72,  83,  85,  86,  87,  88,  89, 
96,  116,  117,  134,  136,  161,  162, 
168,  176,  187,  194,  228,  242,  243, 
248. 

Whig  Party,  xv,  95,  133,  302. 

Whig  Press,   120,  243,  245,  247. 

"Whispering    Sammy,"    303,    305. 

White,  Andrew  D.,  292. 

White,  Richard  Grant,  234. 

White  House,  xiii,  127,  180,  207, 
217,  311. 

White  River,  149. 

Whiting,  Anna,  144. 


356 


Index 


Whitney,   Asa,   173. 
Whitney,  Eli,  131. 
Whitney  Rifles,  131. 
Whitney,  William  C,  264. 
Whittier,  J.  C,  119. 
Wickham,  John,  34. 
Wild    Cat   Currency,    320. 
Wilderness,  276. 
Wilderness  Campaign,  315. 
Williams,  "Bill,"  159. 
Wilkes,    Capt.    Charles,    203. 
Wilkinson,    Gen.    James,    12,    19, 

21,    22,    23,    24,    25,    26,    27,    28, 

29,    30,   31,    32,    33,    34,    35,    36, 

127,   128. 
Wilmot,  David,  200. 
Wilmot  Proviso,    194,   260. 
Wilson,  Henry,  251,  253. 
Wilson,  Woodrow,  xvi,  xxi,  xxii, 

xxiii,  207,  338. 
Willet,  Marinus,  28. 
Williamsburg,   Va.,   79,    127,   219, 

274. 
William    and    Mary,    127. 
Winchester,   111.,   168. 
Windom,  William,  290. 
Wind  River  Range,  146. 
Winner,    Septimus,    226. 
Winthrop,    Robert    C,    235. 
Winthrop,  Theodore,   309,   310. 
Wirt,  William,  34,  78,  84. 


Wise,  Henry  A.,  211. 
Wolfe,  Gen.  James,  140. 
Wood,  Dr.  Samuel,  ill. 
Woodbury,   Levi,    102. 
Wood,   Gen.  John  E.,   310. 
World,  N.  Y.,  239,  292,  293,  296, 

308,  311,  313. 
Worth,  Gen.,  133. 
Wright,  Silas,  102,  228. 
Wythe,  George,  79. 


Yancey,  William  L.,  55,  103,  186. 

Yates,  Joseph  C,  7. 

Yeadon,  Richard,  314. 

Yellowstone,   56. 

Yerba  Buena,  150,  151,  152,  154. 

Yonkers,  N.  Y.,  267. 

Yorktown,    168. 

Young,    Brigham,    161,    171,    172, 

273. 

Young  Men's   Christian  Associa- 
tion, 335. 

Young  Men's  Convention,  83. 


Zanesville,  O.,  99. 
Zouaves,  Duryea's,  309. 


